Breitling, the Swiss watch manufacturer, helped launch the start of Super Bowl XLVIII week with a star-studded event at their flagship Boutique in New York last night. Guests mingled with sports legends, including NFL MVP and friend of Breitling, Boomer Esiason, while enjoying tailgate-inspired bites and browsing the latest models from the Breitling timepiece collection.

Esiason shared his insights with guests at the event, “This Super Bowl is going to be very interesting, because of the weather component,” says Esiason. “If they were playing the Super Bowl indoors, I would go with the Denver Broncos, but the fact that its going to be played outdoors, and the weather – the wind in particular – changes everything and it’s going to be a distinct advantage for a more defense-oriented football team, and I believe that’s what Seattle is.”

Esiason continues, “It is so exciting to be with my special friends at Breitling tonight; they make incredible precision timepieces that I really admire, and are rugged enough for NFL players to wear.”

During his fourteen-year career in the NFL as a quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals, Esiason became a four-time Pro Bowl quarterback and one of the most successful quarterbacks in NFL history, including being named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1988. In 1995, the NFL honored Esiason with the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in recognition of his excellence on the football field as well as his charitable work through the Boomer Esiason Foundation, where they have raised over 100 million dollars in the quest to cure cystic fibrosis. After retiring from the NFL in 1997, Esiason has made a career in broadcast. Currently, he is a studio analyst of “The NFL Today” on CBS Sports, and host of WFAN’s national weekday morning show, “Boomer and Carton in the Morning.”

“It is an honor to celebrate the Super Bowl with someone who has been a part of the sport for nearly 30 years – first as a player and MVP, then as a commentator,” says Breitling USA President Thierry Prissert. “And it is wonderful to have the game here in New York, because it is home to our first flagship Breitling Boutique in the world.”

Breitling Previews Super Bowl with Terrell Davis

In addition to meeting Esiason, guests mingled with other sports and New York celebrities like former Denver Bronco Terrell Davis, and New York Islanders Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin, while enjoying delicious food and drinks at Breitling’s New York Boutique, located at 5 East 57th Street, just off of New York’s famed Fifth Avenue.