Phillies: Navy purchased tickets, not 'Paid Patriotism'
Two Defense Department payments to the Phillies totaling $48,085, cited in a report released by U.S. Sen. John McCain a day earlier, were for tickets and concessions purchased by a Navy supplier, a team official said Thursday.
Two Defense Department payments to the Phillies totaling $48,085, cited in a report released by U.S. Sen. John McCain a day earlier, were for tickets and concessions purchased by a Navy supplier, a team official said Thursday.
"The things in that report were two group purchases that a Navy supply company made to entertain their employees," said John Weber, vice president for ticket sales and operations. "It's just like any other Delaware Valley company that's looking to entertain their clients by taking them to a ball game."
That transaction, noted in the Congressional oversight report, "Tackling Paid Patriotism," involved an unnamed local military supplier that treated its military and civilian employees to games in 2012 and 2014.
According to the report, since 2012 the department has paid $6.8 million to various professional sports teams for staging military tributes, color guard appearances and other patriotic events.
"Unsuspecting audience members became the subjects of paid-marketing campaigns rather than simply bearing witness to teams' authentic, voluntary shows of support for the brave men and women who wear our nation's uniform," McCain said in the report's preface.
When the Atlanta Falcons, for example, unfurled a giant American flag before a 2013 game, the ceremony was actually part of the team's $315,000 contract with the National Guard.
Weber said the Phillies' payments were unrelated to that program.
"I think in the case of the Phillies, the [people compiling the report] were just looking at check requests or purchase orders that had a sports team's name attached," Weber said. "But this is just like any other corporate night where a company is looking to entertain their employees or guests."
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