It has been eight days since Jay Glazer emerged from his lair, broke the news of a deal in principle between the Giants and quarterback Eli Manning, saw his shadow, desecrated Mort’s bus, and declared that there would be six more weeks of preseason football. (OK, it was actually five weeks, but we needed to make the Groundhog Day thing fit.)
And still there’s no final deal between the Giants and Manning.
Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News reports, via Twitter, that Manning says there’s “nothing new” regarding the supposedly minor issue.
We continue to hear that the contract is being delayed by marketing language. The team, we’re told, wants to secure a right of first refusal as to Manning’s endorsement deals. The issue becomes even more complex in this case, given that CAA handles Manning’s football negotiations and IMG has his marketing rights.
At some point, the deal either needs to resolve, or the plug needs to be pulled. We’re hearing some initial rumblings that the Giants might be close to yanking the six-year, $97.5 million offer off the table, but we’ve yet to confirm that the team has adopted this posture.