Keep letting the military sponsor us!

[TWRv12]

Keep letting the military sponsor us!

Leaders of the nation’s major sports leagues are asking Congress to permit the Pentagon to keep sponsoring races cars and sporting events, arguing that efforts to stop the military from spending money on sports marketing would make it harder to reach young recruits.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...OKrW_blog.html

Makes no sense. Is there any other country in the world where the armed services spend so much on sponsorship?

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by TWRv12

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...OKrW_blog.html

Makes no sense. Is there any other country in the world where the armed services spend so much money on everything?

Fixed it for you.

[mountainstar]

The Military, the Reserves and the National Guard are all volunteer forces, so like any organization they advertise and market in order keep the force staffed with new recruits. I can't remember the numbers, but they have to recruit tens of thousands each year for each service in order to maintain their numbers and keep enough people in training for specialized jobs, of which there are many.

Like any sponsorship, you have to look at the cost versus benefit ratio and also whether a program has run it's course.

Personally with our country now around $16 Trillion in debt, a lot of fat needs to be trimmed off and I think we can start with the $10 million that goes to indy car racin'. In fact I'll shoot off an email right now to my congressman. Glad you brought this up.

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

The Military, the Reserves and the National Guard are all volunteer forces, so like any organization they advertise and market in order keep the force staffed with new recruits. I can't remember the numbers, but they have to recruit tens of thousands each year for each service in order to maintain their numbers and keep enough people in training for specialized jobs, of which there are many.

Like any sponsorship, you have to look at the cost versus benefit ratio and also whether a program has run it's course.

Personally with our country now around $16 Trillion in debt, a lot of fat needs to be trimmed off and I think we can start with the $10 million that goes to indy car racin'. In fact I'll shoot off an email right now to my congressman. Glad you brought this up.

Agreed.

Chris

[fieldodreams79]

Myself being an anti-government, anti war, fiscally conservative weirdo, I think mountainstar puts this into perspective very well (expect for the IndyCar part, ). This has been a recruiting tool for the Armed Forces, and imagine the exposure to the types of young men and women they want by plastering the "branches" on racing cars, especially 10 years ago when we all ready to bring down the Taliban. But the time has come to cut wasteful budgets, end useless spending, bring our boys (and girls) home and start investing defense money elsewhere.

I feel that Congressman and Senators should take their salaries in addition to the their staff's salaries and donate them to all forms of American racing as a financial bailout for a struggling industry. I think their salaries have been a waste for the past 3 years (at least) and I feel the US government, especially the legislative branch, owes something the American racing fan, damnit.

[mountainstar]

I think what they need to do is reassess what they are spending and why and if it bringing in the return that they want.

Let's not get into a debate about the politics of the military(because I know where that is going to go), but the fact is we have one, it's all volunteer and like any business or organization you have to recruit people to staff positions. I don't believe some of their motor racing sponsorships are worthwhile myself. I think the Nascar ones could be trimmed, but that is great place to advertise.

Also the military does have a budget for recruitment and marketing, which many might not be aware of.

[Deleted]

I would rather support an army wasting extraordinary amount of money on racing series sponsorship, than Finnish army wasting extraordinary amount of money on mandatory conscription against the non-existent threath of Russia (who nowadays would easily wipe us off anyways if it came up to that)

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Bill Defeated 216-202. Majority of Republicans voted against it (and for racing sponorship) while majority of Democrats voted for the bill (and against the racing sponorships), but a large number of democrats also voted against it, while many of the Tea Party republicans voted for the bill. The NBA showed up so that probably shifted many of the Dem's opinions, and of course they would never sacrifice that.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

While I'm against military sponorships in sports, it's probably a better way to spend taxpayer money than on the Chevrolet Volt.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Chiana

I would rather support an army wasting extraordinary amount of money on racing series sponsorship, than Finnish army wasting extraordinary amount of money on mandatory conscription against the non-existent threath of Russia (who nowadays would easily wipe us off anyways if it came up to that)

Conscription should be a war crime!

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by wnut

Conscription should be a war crime!

Seems to work for the Swiss, not to mention how great it is here as it's one of the only things that keeps Hoodrats off the street.