The news story “Federal funding helps Pittsburgh's pro sports teams salute military” and its front-page print headline, “For pro sports, it pays millions to be patriotic,” completely mischaracterize the Steelers' relationship with the U.S. military.
The military services went to an all-volunteer Army in 1973. Since that time, they have spent millions of dollars to attract a sufficient number of recruits annually in order to meet the needs of maintaining a strong military.
Like many other advertisers desiring to get their message to large audiences, the military has advertised with the Steelers, as well as other sports leagues and teams, as part of its recruiting programs. The military spends part of its advertising budget on non-sports programs as well.
The military is not alone in its decision to advertise with entities that can effectively deliver its message to large numbers of its target audience. In fact, the military's spending with the Steelers is relatively small in comparison to other advertisers in sports media.
The advertising and promotion that the military does with the Steelers to advance its recruiting efforts have nothing to do with the programs we have that provide an opportunity for our fans to salute our military veterans as well as active service members. Our Veterans Day programs, as well as our players' visits to military hospitals and wounded veterans, are well received by the military and are appreciated by our fans.
Connecting what the military spends on its recruiting efforts to the Steelers' various programs recognizing our veterans is a serious misrepresentation of reality, and your readers deserve to know the real story.
Burt Lauten
The writer is the Pittsburgh Steelers' communications coordinator.
