Battle of the Peyton Manning billboards
Mar 9, 2012, 8:13 PM | Updated: 10:20 pm
A number of Peyton Manning’s rumored-to-be finalists are marketing highway signage in an effort to get the attention of the highly sought after free agent quarterback.
In Arizona, R&S mattress company made its pitch for Manning to join the Cardinals earlier this week, with billboards popping up near 40th Avenue and Interstate 10 in Phoenix. The billboards are eye-catching with “PEYTON MANNING Please Sleep Here!” almost screaming at drivers from afar.
The owner of R&S Mattress Liquidators unveiled a pair of new billboards Friday. One of the two billboards reads, “Dear Peyton, We have a dome! Sincerely, R&S Mattress.” The dome reference is a coy play on the belief that Manning may prefer not to brave the elements playing outdoors at this stage of his career.
Arizona isn’t the only place getting swept up in Manning-mania, other cities have gotten into the act, as well. Here’s a look at the competition around the country from some of Manning’s rumored favorites.
In Denver, a billboard and poll by OneSwoosh.com, pitted Manning against Tim Tebow and asked fans to go vote on who they want as the Broncos quarterback next season. The final results of the poll won’t be announced until March 12, but reportedly Team Tebow is holding his own against Team Manning, 60 percent to 40 percent.
A billboard in Miami surfaced a few weeks ago manningtomiami.com, which was featured along an interstate near the Dolphins’ complex. The website also links to a petition clamoring for fans to sign in an effort to entice Manning to come to South Florida. Arizona wasn’t to be outdone in the website department, either, creating their own peyton2az.com and running a “peytition” of their own to show their endearment to the former Indianapolis Colts superstar.
In Tennesee, there is a combined billboard and website campaign comehomepeyton.com, to get Manning to return to his roots. Fans hope the website and billboard might get management more seriously involved in the pursuit of their former University of Tennessee hero.
The question is, which city has been most creative in their outlandish attempts to show Peyton Manning some love? And which cities are next to hop on the Manning billboard bandwagon?
