Again, I swore that I wouldn't write about the Super Bowl, mainly due to my hatred of all things that have to do with the Steelers, but I found a rather interesting article about the MVP award on the New York Daily News' site. It is tradition that the Super Bowl MVP (given to Santonio Holmes - from The Ohio State University - this year) gets to pick a car as a reward. In the past, General Motors (NYSE: GM) has given the car to the MVP on the field (I seem to remember Eli Manning getting a nice car last year) and has made a big to do about the presentation - but not this year. Trust me, Holmes did get his car - a Cadillac Escalade Hybrid Platinum (nice to see he cares about the environment) with a price tag of $85,200. Of course, this Cadillac comes from GM, which has received more than $9 billion from the Treasury. What I found interesting is that it was Cadillac's request for no mention. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told the Daily News of Cadillac's request.
This is the kind of decorum that Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), American International Group (NYSE: AIG), or any of the free-spending, bailed-out banks should show. Now, it would have been far better if the Cadillac wasn't given - but Cadillac felt it needed to live up to its multi-year contract with the NFL to sponsor the award.
A spokesperson for Cadillac, Joanne Krell, told the paper, "Given the current business environment, it was much more appropriate we not do that ... We made the decision not to actively participate int he Super Bowl ... We are very sensitive to the federal assistance loan we have received and we want to carry on our fiduciary responsibility. The Super Bowl was not a place for us to be this year."
Perhaps the situation was best summarized by Goodell, who said, "Some of our business partners decided to take a different approach around the game. But we respect that." I wonder if he was thinking about Bank of America.
As I noted earlier, I would prefer that GM not have given away a car at all. But the company did manage to give the award with no pomp and circumstance and without plastering its name all over tents across the Super Bowl complex.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-04-2009 @ 12:07PM
Craig Buck said...
So, they gave away the car anyway and got no advertising benefit out of it? That is not just stupid - it is double stupid.