Peyton Manning’s Budweiser plugs were a little self-serving

Immediately after the game clock read zero and he chatted with CBS’ Tracy Wolfson, and again on the stage as he held the Lombardi Trophy and chatted with Jim Nantz, Peyton Manning offered a list of three immediate goals: kissing his wife, Ashley, kissing his twins, and drinking a fair amount of Budweiser.

Active NFL players are not allowed to endorse alcoholic beverages, so Manning wasn’t exactly getting paid to talk about his beverage of choice.

Or was he?

Manning’s investment portfolio includes part ownership of two Anheuser-Busch distributors in his native Louisiana; as you probably know, Anheuser-Busch brews Bud.

And in case you think maybe Manning was being paid, perhaps because he very likely is about to retire from the NFL, he made a similar proclamation a couple of years ago after a postseason win (then he wanted Bud Light), and Lisa Weser, the head of marketing communications for Anheuser-Busch, tweeted the following:

Hi Internet. For the record, Budweiser did not pay Peyton Manning to mention Budweiser tonight. We were surprised and delighted that he did.

— Lisa Weser (@LisaWeser) February 8, 2016

So just as sharing an embrace with pizza impresario “Papa” John Schnatter on the field was something of a business move for Manning (he owns numerous franchises), sharing his Bud craving was too.

Best guess at Peyton Manning’s future