Panthers QB Cam Newton "will debut gold cleats at the Super Bowl" from sponsor Under Armour if he wins the NFL MVP Award the night before the game, according to Jeff Barker of the Baltimore SUN. The cleats will be "autographed and sold" on UA's website, with "half of the proceeds" going to the Cam Newton Foundation. UA also will "sell 50 pairs" of the cleats for $500 each. It is "uncertain if Newton would wear the shoes during warm-ups before the Super Bowl ... or during the game itself." He is among many players who "use the pregame period to model cleats, some with radical new designs." Prior to the NFC Championship, Newton wore a pair of UA cleats with the "names of his teammates in blue lettering." UA VP/Sports Marketing & Sponsorships Ryan Kuehl said that the company also will "roll out Newton-themed digital and social promotions around the MVP announcement and Super Bowl" (BALTIMORESUN.com, 1/27). Meanwhile, BLOOMBERG NEWS' Scott Soshnick reported Newton earned an $1M in endorsement bonuses for winning the NFC Championship, putting him in position to become the NFL's "highest-paid pitchman." WME/IMG's Carlos Fleming, who reps Newton, said that the QB "may add a memorabilia deal and 'one or two' more endorsements soon." Fleming added that some current sponsors are "negotiating extensions of their contracts." UA Manager of Global Communications & Entertainment Danielle Daly indicated that the company prior to this season signed Newton to an extension that "includes bonuses pegged to career milestones" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1/28).
LOVE HIM OR HATE HIM: In Charlotte, Scott Fowler wrote under the header, "Cam Newton: The Most Polarizing Figure In Super Bowl 50." Newton "scares some conservative folks, and some folks in the football establishment, and some folks who don’t cotton to dancing, and a few folks who are ... just plain prejudiced." Newton during his five-year NFL career mainly has "danced around" the topic of race, but he "stopped dancing Wednesday." He said, "I'm an African-American quarterback that may scare a lot of people because they haven't seen nothing that they can compare me to." Fowler noted Newton this season has "torn down a Green Bay banner, thrown a Seattle '12th Man' flag, treated the end zone like his personal dance club and organized photo ops on the sideline while the game is still going on." Some people "absolutely love him for all of that," and that crowd mostly "skews toward the younger side." There also are people who "absolutely can't stand that sort of stuff." Fowler: "He has been criticized ever since he made it into the NFL, and yet in five years in Charlotte I've never seen him embarrass the Carolina Panthers organization" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 1/28). YAHOO SPORTS' Eric Adelson wrote Newton made a "significant statement in a football sense because Newton is an original at his position." He is both a "mobile quarterback who excels in the pocket" and a "flashy quarterback who seeks the collision like a fullback." Newton also is a "black quarterback who speaks, dresses and plays outside of convention." Adelson: "There is no worry in Newton's world. He will speak, wear, and play according to his comfort level, and nobody else's" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 1/27).
DOES RACE PLAY A FACTOR? Panthers coach Ron Rivera said that it would be "terrible if race played a factor" into fans not liking Newton. Rivera: "You figure in this time and day and age, it would be more about who he is as an athlete and a person more than anything else." Rivera added that if something about Newton "should scare people, it's that a quarterback with his skill set exists" (USA TODAY, 1/28). ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said, "Cam Newton may be unlike any quarterback we’ve ever seen, and part of that -- I think a smaller part -- is the fact that he’s black. ... Black quarterbacks in and of themselves are not jolting. Talent like this is jolting” ("PTI," ESPN, 1/27). ESPN Radio’s Mike Golic Jr. said, “People aren’t used to seeing what they’re seeing out of a guy in his position, out of a black quarterback. ... What Cam’s giving you is different in that regard, and I think that’s what people have the biggest time getting around” ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 1/28). YAHOO SPORTS' Frank Schwab wrote, "Maybe race doesn't play a role in all the criticism of Newton. It's a hard thing to quantify. But a lot of fans do not like Newton. No matter your reason for disliking Newton, I'm here to tell you why you're missing out. Newton should be the most popular player in the NFL" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 1/28).
LOOK IN THE MIRROR: USA TODAY's Nancy Armour writes if fans are "brutally honest" with themselves, the criticism around Newton "comes from somewhere ugly and mean, based more on prejudice than a wish for proper decorum" (USA TODAY, 1/29). SNY's Chris Carlin said, "There are a lot of small-minded people in this country that are more likely to criticize a black quarterback than they would a white quarterback" ("Loud Mouths," SNY, 1/28). ESPN's Trey Wingo said the criticism pointed at Newton "about his dancing is outright lunacy" because it is "selective outrage." Wingo: "If you don’t like some of the things he does -- that’s fine, that’s your choice. But then you have to ask yourself, why does it bother you with Cam and it doesn’t bother you when Travis Kelce does some of these things, when Rob Gronkowski does his 'soy fiesta' thing?" ("NFL Live," ESPN, 1/27). ESPN's Dan Graziano said, "I don’t know that there’s this big groundswell of anti-Cam Newton sentiment. If there is any, then I think it is silly and baseless." ESPN's Joe Banner asked, "What are we talking about? This is what we want our players to be.” Banner: “There’s nothing to question here. ... He’s smart, he’s working hard, he’s playing great, he’s active in the community, his teammates love him" ("NFL Insiders," ESPN, 1/27).
CHOICE OF A NEW GENERATION: NFL Network's Nate Burleson said this is a "new era" in the NFL, and Newton is "not only ushering in a new generation of athletes, but I think now young kids can celebrate and they can enjoy the game just as much" as the Panthers ("NFL Total Access," NFL Network, 1/27). In N.Y., Mike Lupica writes Newton is the "face of modern sports, where young stars, white and black, have thrown out the old playbook, and don't give a rip about what you think about how they act after they have scored a touchdown" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/29). ESPN's Jerome Bettis said, "What everyone is used to seeing is the old guard. ... They’re not used to seeing this from the quarterback position. So now you see this new type of leadership, and it throws you and you say, ‘Is this guy hot-dogging or is he show-boating or is he being a leader?" Bettis: "His team is following him, and that’s true leadership. It’s in a different form than it has been, but we’re in a new era now" ("NFL Live," ESPN, 1/27). ESPN's Ryan Clark said, "People don’t understand the culture. ... Cam is disliked because he has not conformed to what we believe quarterbacks should be. He’s true to who he is." Grant added, "We’ve never seen a player in that position embrace where he’s from, the culture, not feel like he has to change it to be accepted” ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 1/28). Jets WR Brandon Marshall said, “I don’t want my quarterback dancing. I’m from the old school. ... I want my quarterbacks to get back in the huddle and lead us. But what we have to understand, this is the new generation, this is what they’re doing next. They’re disruptive, they’re disrespectful, they don’t give a damn about anyone, and I kind of like it.” Comedy Central's Larry Wilmore said, “It’s more generational than racial” (“The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore,” Comedy Central, 1/27).
MEDIA DAY SHOULD BE FUN: FS1's Mike Garafolo said Newton is “going to be a story all throughout the week” leading up to the Super Bowl, as a “lot of people are embracing this” discussion (“Fox Sports Live,” FS1, 1/29). In N.Y., Bob Raissman writes with his comments, Newton "officially became a one man buffet at the Super Bowl feeding frenzy." There has "always been this intense pursuit of nothingness" during the lead-up to the game, but with Newton "flipping the race card Wednesday in response to a question, the equation changed." The "hysteria will build the rest of the week and escalate when Newton is on site." One beneficiary might be Broncos QB Peyton Manning, who would have had the "center ring to himself, facing questions about whether Super Bowl 50 will be his last game and allegations by Al Jazeera that packages of HGH were shipped to his home" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/29).
