Super Bowl MVP Receives $85k Taxpayer-Funded Caddy

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

For the eighth year in a row, the MVP of the Super Bowl has received a free Cadillac of their choice. This year, Pittsburgh Wideout Santonio Holmes picked out Caddy’s priciest SUV, an $85k Escalade Hybrid Platinum. But instead of presenting the ‘llac at an on-field postgame ceremony, the terms of Cadillac’s sponsorship were fulfilled behind closed doors. Why? “Given the current business environment, it was much more appropriate we not do that,” Caddy spokeswoman Joanne Krell tells the New York Daily News. “We made the decision not to actively participate in the Super Bowl. We congratulate the MVP, it is a great achievement. 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. That is not to say it’s not a great platform.” But GM still gave a man who makes over $2m per year an $85k vehicle after having received $7.4b in government bailouts. From a PR perspective that’s not great, and from Deadspin on down, people are taking notice. And based on the fact that Caddy defends the decision on the basis of the bailout being a loan that will be repaid, it’s obvious that they realize how bad this looks.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Brett Woods Brett Woods on Feb 05, 2009

    Then why give him that car as a `choi`e?

  • Sabastian Sabastian on Feb 05, 2009

    What? You mean the football player picked the Escalade? What a free-thinker.

  • Marcj Marcj on Feb 05, 2009

    Maybe Santonio can auction the 'sclade on eBay as "sports memorabilia", then donate the money back to Cadillac? (Surely they're considered a charity by now, so he'd even get a nice tax receipt...)

  • Revver Revver on Feb 12, 2009

    Why should their PR division run any different than the rest of the operation? OK, cheap shot, but c'mon when is this company's A game gonna show up?

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