Politics

New York Jets Gets $115k In Federal Funding To Honor National Guard During Games

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
Font Size:

When you see soldiers participating in ceremonies on the field during New York Jets games, it’s not just because the team appreciates the military.

It’s part of an arrangement worth $115,000 a season between the Jets and the New Jersey Air National Guard “for advertising and promotion,” according to records released Thursday.

The expenditures were made public Thursday by Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, who, in his #PorkChops series, reveals what he considers “egregious and unnecessary waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“This will probably stand as the biggest Draft Day bust for the Jets until 8 p.m.,” Flake said in a release.

Records show that the New York Jets in 2013 and 2014 were awarded a $115,000 contract with the Department of Defense.

A 2013 statement of work document from the Army’s procurement contracting site reveals details of the arrangement between the New York Jets and New Jersey National Guard.

In return for $115,000 for advertising and promotion during the 2013-2014 football season, the Jets agreed to provide a number of services:

  • The Jets agreed to kick off home games with a New Jersey National Guard video, while letting four soldiers participate in the pre-game tunnel when players entered the field.
  • The Jets agreed to hold a sweepstakes that required users to like the New Jersey National Guard’s Facebook page.
  • The jets agreed to let the New Jersey National Guard serve as a presenting partner at the Jets Inaugural Back to Football 5K, which included advertising at the event and free tickets for soldiers to participate in the run.
  • The Jets agreed to advertising for the New Jersey National Guard during every home game.
  • The Jets agreed that during its military appreciation game in December 2013 that 40 soldiers would participate in pre-game ceremonies, including an honorary captain for the coin toss. The New Jersey National Guard also was allowed to have an on-field enlistment ceremony for at least 50 soldiers.
  • The Jets agreed to also let the New Jersey National Guard join the Jets for a charity event to build or refurbish a community asset “for recruiting and retention purposes.”
  • The Jets agreed to provide 35 game access passes to soldiers, access to their training center for events and participation in three other game day activities for the New Jersey National Guard.

The Daily Caller has put in a request for comment with the National Guard.

Follow Alex on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel