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Lyft Drafts Former NFL Star Jerry Rice as Surprise Driver Before Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is a chance for hometown apps to market the hell outta themselves.

by Mark Bergen

Silicon Valley’s Super Bowl isn’t all fashionable parties. It’s also a chance for the hometown apps to market the hell outta themselves.

Underdog ride-sharing app Lyft’s tactic was to get legendary San Francisco 49ers receiver Jerry Rice as an undercover driver. Lyft co-founder John Zimmer has pulled off the same stunt. But, no offense to John, the six-foot-two, three-time Super Bowl MVP had a bit harder time being stealth about it. (Although one female passenger is spectacularly blasé about her celebrity driver.)

Lyft is also setting up special pick-up points in the traffic-jammed city for the weekend. Its rival Uber is roping in NFL players too, deploying them as drivers for its new food delivery efforts.

No word on whether Rice and the app platform had to address any contract disputes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD9gJYGkfyM&feature=youtu.be

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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