Great Moments in Capitalism™, Special 9/11 Edition (Cont.)

Last night the NFL released its 2011 schedule, the lockout and common decency be damned.

The centerpiece of the announcement came with news that a highlight of the first weekend will come with a Sept. 11 game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins.

As pointed out by the NFL’s PR machine, the game will take place “on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan and the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., outside Washington, D.C.”

Pretty much every news report about the new schedule hyped the Sept. 11 angle.

Good golly. Who would try to exploit that tragedy to promote a football game?

Oh, right! The Redskins would! On the fifth anniversary of the attacks, the team sold special hats with a Pentagon logo on its website (pictured here), promising that they were “expected to be worn” by coaches during a game. Amazing to think it took the rest of the league five years to catch up to the marketing possibilities of commemorating terrorism.