Interesting article.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playof...ory?id=2321024


Montana, the league's only three-time Super Bowl MVP, turned down the invitation over money, Newsday and the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Bradshaw, who told league officials that he wanted to be with his family, also took issue with the fees, the Chronicle reported. Bradshaw, through a representative, denied the Chronicle's report that there was a dispute over money.

Former MVPs were given $1,000 for incidental expenses while in Detroit, along with other amenities such as plane tickets, car rental and game tickets.

Sources told each paper that Montana asked for a guarantee of at least $100,000 in appearance money.
This is an interesting issue for me becauase Montana is one of my favorite players of all time, and Bradshaw is someone I always thought was kindof a tool.

It is easy to at first think "those fuckers!"

But think about how much money the NFL is making off the appearance of these MVPs and the Super Bowl. It is literally a billion dollar day, and for that they want to bring in some of the biggest super stars in the history of the NFL and pay them $1,000 and some fees? That's cheap as hell.

Obviously the appearance of people like Montana and Bradshaw is huge for them - especially for keeping people watching the "official" half time show instead of switching over.

I would like to know more about this, but I think I can see why some people would object to the financial aspect.

The other argument would be that no matter what, these guys benefited so much from the NFL they should be happy to "give something back" and participate in the ceremony. Tough call.