Will Joe Flacco keep his MVP Corvette Stingray?
It must be nice to be Joe Flacco. In one night at work he won the Super Bowl, MVP of the game and a 2014 Corvette Stingray. He’s also expecting a contract estimated to be worth more than $10 million per year, which if he keeps the car should make the $25,700 it would cost him in income tax less of a burden. Still, it’s worth questioning whether Flacco will opt to foot the bill as past winners of the Super Bowl MVP trophy vehicle have donated it to charity. As Forbes reports that’s the smarter thing to do if you’re concerned with tax deductions.
Once he tires of doing backflips at Disneyland Flacco will have to make the call for himself. Besides the obvious reasons to keep the 450hp hunk of Americana, Flacco might be persuaded to keep the Vette on the basis it was a gift from a New Orleans car dealership that was completely devastated during Hurricane Katrina.
The car was provided courtesy of Banner Chevrolet, the only Chevy dealer in Orleans Parrish. When Katrina hit the dealership lost its entire inventory of 650 new Chevy’s and 120 pre-owned vehicles; one of the largest losses ever recorded for a dealership in the United States. The dealership, which has been in owner, Rick Flick’s family for 40 years, recently completed a multimillion-dollar reconstruction and was the first business to reopen in New Orleans after the storm.
"Banner Chevrolet and the entire city of New Orleans have been through so much since the storm, we felt this was a small gesture to bring the comeback story full circle," said Alan Batey, a GM vice president, in a statement. "With the Super Bowl in his backyard, we couldn't think of a better guy to have the honor of awarding the MVP with his Corvette Stingray."
Along with the touching back story Flacco lucked-out in the larger scheme of Super Bowl MVP cars. Last year’s winner, Eli Manning received a Corvette GS Centennial Edition (after shaming himself by selecting a Cadillac Escalade Hybrid in 2008). In 2011 Aaron Rodgers won a Camaro convertible.
These are fine cars by most people’s standards, dream cars even. But they didn’t generate the amount of buzz the 2014 Stingray has since it stole the show at the Detroit Auto Show last month. Enthusiasts and auto journalists the world over are clamoring to be among the first to drive the Stingray and see for themselves if the all new Vette lives up to the hype as the next great iteration of America’s world-beating sports car.
To most car lovers in Flacco’s position accepting the Vette would be a no-brainer, but a guy who’s set to rake in $10million a year can afford to be picky. I’d argue its Flacco’s patriotic duty to accept the Stingray. Think about it: The Super Bowl MVP pays his taxes, honors a resilient New Orleans car dealership and is seen throttling about in the specimen of a domestic dream machine. For a while he would be the most red-blooded man in America.
Take one for the team, Flacco. Drive that Stingray like a franchise quarterback should.
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