I'm reasonably certain the NFL doesn't charge the armed forces for most of these perks. They give away tickets for service members to attend games and passes for them to pose on the sidelines, no doubt writing it off as a promotional expense. I'd be surprised if the league or teams didn't also provide the flags and other patriotic decorations; think about the demographic they're catering to. The military may very well well pay for the card displays that show recruiting slogans. I'm not sure about that. I would hope so.
I do know for a fact that the military does not charge for the flyovers. As eyewateringly expensive as they are (when I was in the army, the Air Force supposedly charged us $85,000 per plane, per pass for airborne jumps, and there were always multiple passes; I can only imagine what a formation of fighter jets would cost), the flyovers are not deemed to pose an additional expense to the taxpayer because they're incorporated right into the routine training schedule. That is to say, the pilots, many of whom are guardsman putting in their one weekend a month, are racking up their mandatory flight hours anyway. If they weren't flying over the stadium, they'd simply be flying somewhere else. Circling aimlessly over cornfields or patrolling some military base.
Consider the men in the air and the men on the field product placement, if you will.
Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel