U.S. Taxpayers Paid $450,000 For Navy Jets To Fly Over A Closed Stadium Roof Before the Super Bowl

By on February 9, 2011 in News 20
Cowboys Stadium Video Screen

Photo: Bigcats lair (CC)

No biggie for the attendees, since this stadium has the largest HDTV screen in the world. Sally Jenkins writes in the Washington Post:

Everything you need to know about the future of the NFL could be seen in the gloriously decadent stadium that hosted this Super Bowl. As NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pointed out, “Quite frankly, that’s our stage.” It was the cleanest, safest, nicest stadium anyone has ever visited. It was also the most extravagant and economically stratified. It cost double what Jerry Jones said it would, and taxpayers financed about a quarter of it, yet its innermost marble interiors are totally inaccessible to the average fan.

A tipping point was reached with this Super Bowl, for me. It was the screwed-over anger of those 1,250 people without seats that did it. Those travel-weary, cash-whipped fans paid small fortunes to go to the game, only to discover their stubs were no good, because fire marshals declared some sections unsafe. All of a sudden the whole thing seemed offensive. It was just too much.

For absurdity, how about those four Navy F-18s flying over the stadium — with its retractable roof closed? Everybody inside could only see the planes on the stadium’s video screens. It was strictly a two-second beauty shot. Know what it cost taxpayers? I’ll tell you: $450,000. (The Navy justifies the expense by saying it’s good for recruiting.)

Read the entire article in the Washington Post

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  • Liam_McGonagle

    LOL! Ah good times, good times!

    I don’t suppose it ever occurred to anyone to simply do a CGI thingamebob and save about 99.9% on the deal, eh? After all, no one was gonna see it outside of the video screen anyhow.

  • Liam_McGonagle

    LOL! Ah good times, good times!

    I don’t suppose it ever occurred to anyone to simply do a CGI thingamebob and save about 99.9% on the deal, eh? After all, no one was gonna see it outside of the video screen anyhow.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Donovan-Moore/715651471 Donovan Moore

    I don’t know where you get that $450,000 number, but it does not cost anything close to that. The fixed costs are already paid, the only extra cost is for jet fuel. A fighter jet at low altitude will burn about $10,000 worth of fuel per hour. So for 4 jets for 1/2 hour would cost the taxpayers about $20,0000. Nowhere near $450,000.

    • Kapstone440

      Well, that is still too much and not needed. That could have paid for U.S. education for children, e.t.c..
      The gov. can approve this, but they want to privatize public schools

      • grooveboss

        all i know is that at 26 i need me some jets that are not the NY Jets………. they should have spent the money in shirt cannons for the crowd

    • mr.c

      You’ve obviously never written an aviation related check…

    • Rudd135

      that’s like saying the cost of a trip in your car is only the gas money, even the IRS knows better. Planes take an immense amount of expensive maintenance, they only last so many hours before you have structural problems from metal fatigue, etc. Some planes require more ground time than fly time.
      And still, even 20K could have been spent in many better ways.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Donovan-Moore/715651471 Donovan Moore

    I don’t know where you get that $450,000 number, but it does not cost anything close to that. The fixed costs are already paid, the only extra cost is for jet fuel. A fighter jet at low altitude will burn about $10,000 worth of fuel per hour. So for 4 jets for 1/2 hour would cost the taxpayers about $20,0000. Nowhere near $450,000.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Donovan-Moore/715651471 Donovan Moore

    I don’t know where you get that $450,000 number, but it does not cost anything close to that. The fixed costs are already paid, the only extra cost is for jet fuel. A fighter jet at low altitude will burn about $10,000 worth of fuel per hour. So for 4 jets for 1/2 hour would cost the taxpayers about $20,0000. Nowhere near $450,000.

  • Kapstone440

    Well, that is still too much and not needed. That could have paid for U.S. education for children, e.t.c..
    The gov. can approve this, but they want to privatize public schools

  • mr.c

    You’ve obviously never written an aviation related check…

  • grooveboss

    so going to the navy for the planes…………….

  • grooveboss

    so going to the navy for the planes…………….

  • grooveboss

    all i know is that at 26 i need me some jets that are not the NY Jets………. they should have spent the money in shirt cannons for the crowd

  • http://twitter.com/johnsin John Drefahl

    Okay, this makes sense actually.. Remember they also “oversold” the Superbowl.. Just like they do with airline tickets. The only problem is that.. most people don’t miss the Superbowl.. Usually they only get to go once in their lives.

    You gotta wonder.. how much more retarded can our “best and brightest” or I mean Superclass rich people get. Not enough, because they still haven’t sent me a check.

  • http://www.mobileappaddict.com/ John Defahl

    Okay, this makes sense actually.. Remember they also “oversold” the Superbowl.. Just like they do with airline tickets. The only problem is that.. most people don’t miss the Superbowl.. Usually they only get to go once in their lives.

    You gotta wonder.. how much more retarded can our “best and brightest” or I mean Superclass rich people get. Not enough, because they still haven’t sent me a check.

  • 5by5

    The irony is that state supported sport (building new stadiums on the backs of taxpayers, not just fly-overs by the Navy), is often given a wink and a nod even when citizens of a cit don’t want it, while state support of the arts (which they do want) gets basically no encouragement, yet the arts actually produce better overall revenue, more jobs, and a better return on that investment.

  • 5by5

    The irony is that state supported sport (building new stadiums on the backs of taxpayers, not just fly-overs by the Navy), is often given a wink and a nod even when citizens of a cit don’t want it, while state support of the arts (which they do want) gets basically no encouragement, yet the arts actually produce better overall revenue, more jobs, and a better return on that investment.

  • Rudd135

    that’s like saying the cost of a trip in your car is only the gas money, even the IRS knows better. Planes take an immense amount of expensive maintenance, they only last so many hours before you have structural problems from metal fatigue, etc. Some planes require more ground time than fly time.
    And still, even 20K could have been spent in many better ways.

  • http://www.marblepolishing.net/ Marble Floor Repair

    U.S. Taxpayers Paid $450,000 For Navy Jets To Fly Over A Closed Stadium Roof Before the Super Bowl