Super Bowl, super waste of money

In Super Bowl tradition General Motors gives a Cadillac away to the MVP. But this year is different. The economy is in the tank, the big 3 are begging for a massive government bail out, and the average person is sick of seeing the millions of dollars frivolously spent by large corporations while they struggle to buy milk.

But this year things would be different. This year GM would give away the 85,000 dollar Cadillac away in secrecy. The NFL, a billion dollar company, insisted that GM honour their contract. GM’s licensing agreement with the NFL was signed well before the economy was in the crapper and before they had to grovel at the feet of Congress. I usually think most corporate sponsorships are a big waste of money and are shining examples of why companies like GM end up in the financial mess they are. For example paying Tiger Woods 7 million a year to have the Buick logo on his bag still does not suddenly make Buick a cool car to drive if you’re under 65. However, when you look at the price of a one minute Super Bowl ad an 85,000 dollar car give away seems like a bargain.

The NFL made the worst decision possible by not giving the car away as they usually do; in an on field celebration. I know why the NFL and GM did not want to give the car away in public, as the optics couldn’t be worse. GM is begging for table scraps from the tax payer but is still going to give away an 85,000 dollar whip to an overpaid millionaire. And they are right, that would have been a horrible decision; but not as bad as still giving away the car in private and trying hide the fact that they did. First off, there was no way someone wasn’t going to find out about the MVP getting a free car. Spoiled rich athletes love free stuff just as much as we do; they just get better free stuff. Santonio Holmes would be driving his Caddy right down to West Coast Customs to trick that bitch out and telling everyone along the way who would listen that he got it for free!

It’s always the cover up that gets you screwed, ask Clinton. The idea of a sponsorship deal like GM’s is to show your product off to millions of people, and try to attach the popularity of the NFL to your product. What better way than having the best player of the Super Bowl driving off the field in your car. By not giving away the car as they usually do, GM got zero benefits of giving a car away. The received no return on their investment. Even though the optics would be bad, it would have been more beneficial for GM and the tax payer to have the publicity of giving a Caddy away on national television.

What the NFL should have done is offer to buy the Cadillac for the retail price and give it away themselves to the MVP. This is a win win for everybody. The NFL wouldn’t look like greedy pigs, GM looks like they aren’t hemorrhaging money by giving away free cars and they would still gain the benefits of their original sponsorship. And most importantly a rich athlete gets an 85,000 dollar whip to add to his collection. Things aren’t going get any better until billion dollar companies are willing to share in some of the sacrifice. By the way the NFL had record numbers this year.