Teams in the five major American sports leagues have taken in more than $10 million in marketing deals with the military since 2012, but the Department of Defense (DOD) can't account for all of the contracts, much less the money.

The fact that teams like the New York Jets had taken military money to honor hometown troops was revealed this spring, but a report released Wednesday shows that the spending was much larger and much more widespread than originally believed.

In all, the DOD spent $10.4 million on marketing contracts with teams in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS. This does not count sponsorships in NASCAR, which could total as much as $100 million.

DOD can't account for much of the money they've spent

Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, both Republicans from Arizona, conducted the study, and were concerned by the fact that the DOD could not account for large chunks of the money it spent.

Over the course of the effort, we discovered the startling fact that DOD cannot accurately account for how many contracts it has awarded or how much has been spent; its official response to our request only accounted for 62 percent of its 122 contracts with the major league teams that we were able to uncover and 70 percent of the more than $10 million it actually spent on these contracts.

Buying patriotism with taxpayer dollars

While the report concedes that some of the money appears to have been spent on legitimate recruiting efforts, a large portion went to "paid patriotism" at games.

These paid tributes included on-field color guard, enlistment and reenlistment ceremonies, performances of the national anthem, full-field flag details, ceremonial first pitches͕ and puck drops.

Of the 122 contracts analyzed, 72 were for "paid patriotism," and most of those were sponsored by the Army National Guard. Of the six contracts that McCain and Flake found particularly egregious, four were from the National Guard and two from the Air Force.

The Air Force paid the Los Angeles Galaxy for "recognition of five high ranking officers of the Air Force" in 2012, as well as four sets of sideline season tickets.

The National Guard paid the Seattle Seahawks in 2014 for a ceremony that allowed "up to 10 soldiers to re-enlist pregame on the field."

The Air Force bought 60 club-level tickets from the Cincinnati Bengals for $4,960.

The National Guard paid the Indianapolis Colts for the use of a suite, autographed items, field visits and appearances by cheerleaders.

The National Guard bought 40 lower-level center-court seats from the Indiana Pacers.

The National Guard bought an 18-person luxury box and an "executive-view" suite for 25 people on Military Appreciation Night.

Money spread across all five major leagues

In all, 18 NFL teams received contracts, with the most ($879,000) going to the Atlanta Falcons over four years for services that included a National Guard soldier returning from a deployment getting a surprise meet-and-greet with a player, 80 National Guard holding a large U.S. flag at a military-appreciation game, videoboard messages and a military-appreciation day at training camp.

The New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens all received more than a half-million dollars, while other teams received amounts ranging from $10,000 (Cleveland Browns) to $472,875 (New Orleans Saints).

The largess was not limited to the NFL, either. The Los Angeles Angels received $450,000 dollars as one of 10 MLB teams involved, while the Atlanta Hawks led eight NBA teams with $230,000.

Six NHL teams had DOD contracts, led by the Minnesota Wild, whose $570,000 total ranked among the biggest in all of sports, while the Seattle Sounders got $128,000 to lead eight MLS teams.

NASCAR gets big bucks, but so do snowmobiles and comic cons

No team, though, received nearly as much money as Aric Almirola's Sprint Cup NASCAR program, which took in $1.56 million in 2015 from the Air Force to sponsor the car in the Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekend races. While the report only listed expenditures for 2015, the Air Force has worked with Richard Petty Motorsports for the last seven years, and has been involved with NASCAR for at least 15 years.

In numbers reported in a previous Senate inquiry, the National Guard spent $88 million sponsoring Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Sprint Cup car, but couldn't show a single recruit that had signed up because of the deal. The Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard all canceled NASCAR deals due to lack of results.

The McCain-Flake report also reported contracts with other events such as $700,000 to the Iron Dog snowmobile race, $570,000 to college athletic programs at Indiana, Purdue and Wisconsin, and $7,000 to the Alamo City Comic Con.

The leagues can still refund money

While McCain and Flake are still concerned about the amount of contracts that DOD cannot account for, they do think their report has been a victory:

The United States Senate’s oversight has worked. DOD has banned paid patriotism and the NFL has called on all clubs to stop accepting payment for patriotic salutes.

Other teams that were not listed in the report do regular military-themed events, such as the Detroit Pistons hosting a "Hoops for Troops" night earlier this week that included a large swearing-in ceremony.

In a letter to Senators Flake and McCain, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league is reviewing all monies received by its teams from the military:

"With respect to more specific claims around recruitment funds being used for tribute activities, we are conducting an audit of all contracts between our clubs and the military service branches or state National Guard units," he said in the letter. "If we find that inappropriate payments were made, they will be refunded in full."

McCain suggested Wednesday that any refunds go to veterans causes like Wounded Warriors.