Pickett gets new ride in NIL deal with Bowser Automotive

Fifth-year Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett is rolling into the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side with a new set of wheels this season.

After announcing a few name, image and likeness deals earlier this month, including one with Oakland restaurant Spirits and Tales and another with the local Boys and Girls Club, Pickett added Bowser Automotive — a car dealership in Pleasant Hills, about 30 minutes south of Oakland — to his list of endorsements late last week. Similar to the deal with Spirits Tales, there was no money exchanged, according to Bowser Automotive spokesperson Megan Erney.

The deal was quite simple — Bowser provided Pickett with a vehicle to drive during the season and the quarterback promoted the dealership on social media. According to Erney, the social media post was not part of the deal, but something Pickett did on his own.

Pickett will drive the GMC Sierra pickup truck provided by the dealership throughout the football season and the company will revisit at a later date whether or not they allow him to continue to use it past this season.

The quarterback announced the deal via his personal Twitter, as he posed in front of the truck. Pickett’s team initiated the deal, according to the dealership, but it was a proposal Bowser Automotive was excited to receive after being a staple in the Pittsburgh community for nearly 40 years.

“We’ve been in business since 1983,” Erney said. “We’ve been a very proud sponsor of Pitt Athletics. It seemed like the right fit for us to do a partnership with Kenny.”

But the dealership didn’t want to bring on just any Pitt athlete to be a sponsor, but someone who represented the qualities Bowser Automotive prides itself on. Erney cited Pickett’s dedication to helping his community as a key reason why Pickett was the right fit for the partnership.

“His involvement with the community, whether it’s here in Pittsburgh or his hometown, was a factor,” Erney said. “How [Pickett] carries himself, you can tell he cares about the City, he cares about his teammates and those are all important qualities to our organization.”