Joe Flacco’s Corvette the latest of Super Bowl MVP cars
Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco got a C7 Corvette for his efforts, the latest in the tradition of Super Bowl MVP cars over they years. Photo Credit: Shane's Stuff/Flickr.com/CC-BY-SA
As many of us undoubtedly know, the person voted Most Valuable Player in the Super Bowl gets a free car out of the deal, usually a GM vehicle. The latest Super Bowl MVP car is a 2014 C7 Corvette Stingray, which is the traditional choice MVPs make.
Joe Flacco makes common but great choice of Corvette for MVP car award
After being voted the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLVII, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was awarded a brand new Chevrolet Corvette, the C7 Stingray, according to AutoBlog, from Banner Chevrolet, a New Orleans dealership.
It’s a good choice. The base model packs 450 horsepower and can zip from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under 4 seconds. With cylinder deactivation, weight saving design and so forth, it’s projected to approach 30 mpg. Anyone looking to get, say, Sovereign Bank auto loans for a sports car may want to look at one.
Corvettes are quasi-traditional Super Bowl MVP cars. Eli Manning got one last year. The very first MVP car was, in fact, a Corvette, given to Green Bay Packers QB Bart Starr after Super Bowl I.
Thanks to sponsorship
The NFL doesn’t exactly disclose this, but sponsors provide the Super Bowl MVP cars. In other words, it’s an advertising stunt.
For some time it’s been General Motors, but the exact GM brand has varied. From at least 2004 to 2009 it was Cadillac, according to Complex.com. However, GM took a lot of heat in 2009, for giving Pittsburgh Steeler Santonio Holmes a Cadillac Escalade Hybrid Platinum, an $85,000 SUV, after getting a $10 billion bailout, according to DeadSpin and in 2010, according to Fox News, Caddy opted out completely and Drew Brees got the shaft.
[To Get The Most Advantageous Bargain On A New Or Pre-Owned Car, Van, Truck or SUV Drop By And See Car Dealers Everett Wa Now.]
Since 2011 it’s been Chevrolet. GM pays big bucks for the sponsorship too, forking over $200 million per year for it’s NFL sponsorship, according to Adweek.
A number of car makers have been the sponsor, such as Ford in the late 1990s, according to Sports Illustrated. Subaru took a turn in the late 80s, according to a 1989 Hampton Roads, Va., Daily Press article; that year’s MVP, San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice, got a Subaru XT6. Dallas Cowboys QB, Roger Staubach, “Captain Comeback,” opted for a Dodge Charger after winning MVP honors in Super Bowl VI in 1972, according to a Times-Picayune article on Nola.com
Not everyone keeps them
Not every MVP keeps the car. There may be a financial incentive not to; as Forbes points out, the Super Bowl MVP cars are considered income and are subject to tax. Joe Flacco could get stuck for $27,500 by Uncle Sam, if he keeps it. Donating it to charity would cut that down.
Roger Staubach traded his Charger in almost immediately for a station wagon, as it wasn’t much of a family car and he had three children, to howls of derisive laughter from his teammates.
Bart Starr’s Corvette was sold in two years of him getting the car, according to the Los Angeles Times. Since 1966, Starr and his wife have been benefactors of the Rawhide Boys Ranch, a retreat for troubled and disadvantaged boys near Green Bay and Starr sold the car in a raffle auction in 1968. Starr had to get dispensation from Wisconsin’s then-governor, naturally a Packers fan, to do it, as raffles were illegal then. A Corvette cost about $4,000 at the time. Starr raised $65,000 – about $429,000 today.
Sources
Deadspin: http://deadspin.com/santonio-holmes-cadillac-escalade/
Adweek: http://www.adweek.com/news/television/gm-are-you-experienced-143305
Sports Illustrated: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/1998/playoffs/news/1999/02/01/elway_future/
Daily Press: http://articles.dailypress.com/1989-01-24/sports/8901240037_1_super-bowl-xxiii-subaru-xt6-san-francisco-49ers
Nola.com: http://www.nola.com/superbowl/index.ssf/2013/01/roger_staubach_super_bowl_mvp.html
Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2013/02/04/tax-implications-of-joe-flaccos-super-bowl-mvp-award/
Los Angeles Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/19/sports/la-sp-crowe-20101220