Peyton Manning dumped stake in $2.9 Billion worth Papa John’s amidst ‘national anthem’ controversy

Peyton Manning’s relationship with Papa John’s is a memorable one. He even owned 31 establishments of the pizza restaurant chain but soon decided to sell all of them.

Peyton Manning has made a name for himself at the highest level. Popularly known as “The Sheriff,” Peyton had a 14-year long stint with the Colts before moving to the Broncos.

The two-time Super Bowl champion QB was named the most valuable player of the league on five occasions. Moreover, as he has a super impressive net worth of $250 million, it would be fair to say that Manning has been fantastic with his investments.

Back in 2012, Manning showed great interest in the restaurant chain Papa Johns. In fact, Manning owned as many as 31 locations of the now $2.9 billion worth pizza restaurant chain.

Although the investment he made looked like a promising one, Manning eventually decided to sell all of the 31 establishments he owned in 2018.

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Peyton Manning continued to help Papa John’s even selling the establishments he owned

Peyton even did commercials for Papa John’s and everything seemed to be on the right track. However, things started to go sour when the Pizza chain’s sales started going down.

The NFL and Papa John’s had entered into a partnership back in 2010. John Schnatter, the CEO of Papa John’s worked closely with Manning on several ad campaigns.

However, when sales went down for the pizza chain, the CEO blamed it on the NFL. As per USA Today, Schnatter claimed that the national anthem controversy really played a huge role in bringing the company’s numbers down.

“The N.F.L. has hurt us by not resolving the current debacle to the players’ and owners’ satisfaction,” Schnatter had stated. In 2017, Scnatter was replaced by a new CEO named Steve Ritchie.

In early 2018, the relationship between Papa John’s and the NFL came to an end. The league then announced its partnership with Pizza Hut. Manning also took the decision to sell the Papa John’s establishments he owned.

However, Peyton didn’t completely detach himself from Papa John’s. As an ambassador and and spokesperson for the brand, Manning kept on aiding the chain to get things back on track.

The NFL star has been involved with a number of brands like Nike, Gatorade, MasterCard, Direct TV and more. Fans adore him and his overall persona has massively helped the brands he has been associated with to achieve their desired targets.

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