24/7 Wall St.

We are constantly looking for the business angle of current events, and what could be more pressing than the Super Bowl today.  More people watch the Super Bowl than watch live coverage of presidential elections.  So if we wanted to look at who the endorsement crowd wants to win the game, we’d simply look at the endorsements of team leaders.  The Patriots’ Brady as QB trumps the Giants’ Eli Manning on the endorsement roster.

Sports Illustrated estimated a $9 million endorsement take-home from Tom Brady.  Eli Manning’s endorsements were "only" estimated at $5 million.

Brady has Nike (NYSE: NKE), Movado (NYSE: MOV) and Glaceau Smart Water, part of Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). He has also appeared in ads for Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) as well at Stetson Cologne by Coty.

Eli Manning has appeared in commercials for Oreo’s, owned by Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT).  He also has a deal with Citizen Watch Co., Reebok (part of Adidas) and ESPN Radio, part of Disney (NYSE: DIS).  His endorsement from Toyota of New Jersey appears to be local rather than national, although maybe Toyota Motors (NYSE: TM) would jump on his coat tails if Manning-lite scores an underdog victory.

The Patriots are favored by the odds-makers, and their leader is still favored by endorsers.  If you prefer the stock market over football, using history would mean you’d prefer the Giants to win for the stock market.  Someone will make up a statistic for anything.

Jon C. Ogg
February 3, 2008