It’s probably the way it’s always been with the government paying the NFL for promotions. It’s just not right and needs to end because these teams can and should cover this themselves. What does it cost them really? Army Staff Sgt. Waiters is correct in his assessment that this is “shameful”. 

A hero soldier honored by the Jets reacted to news that the team and 13 other NFL franchises were paid by the National Guard and the Department of Defense to salute the troops at home games.

“I think it’s pretty shameful that millionaires and billionaires take money from the service,” Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Waiters.

“It’s just greed,” said Waiters, an Army medic who served two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

Waiters spoke a day after a story in The News — which featured him on the cover — revealed that the Department of Defense and the New Jersey National Guard doled out $377,000 to the Jets over the last four seasons to honor military members at MetLife Stadium games.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) blew the whistle on the military money grab. Flake revealed that $5.4 million in taxpayer money went to the Jets and 13 NFL teams between 2011 and 2014 to give shoutouts to the troops while making it appear they were doing it out of patriotism.

Read more: NYDN