By Dan Whitcomb
May 19 (Reuters) - The National Football League has agreed to return more than $700,000 paid to its teams by the Pentagon for honoring American soldiers at sporting events in a so-called "paid patriotism" scheme, two U.S. senators said on Thursday.
Republican Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake said the NFL said in a letter that an external audit had identified $723,734 in payments "mistakenly applied to appreciation activities" over four seasons.
The league had committed to repay that amount to taxpayers in full, McCain and Flake said in a written statement.