Tommy DeVito shows up at the pizzeria for free after a fight.
It looked like Tommy DeVito kept his promise to show up at a New Jersey pizza place on Tuesday, even though the restaurant said it had to cancel the party because the NFL’s New York Giants quarterback raised his fee.
On Sunday, Coniglio’s Old Fashioned Pizzeria to Morristown said on social media that it would no longer be having DeVito because it “heard from his agent that he’s appearance fee will be doubling” from $10,000 to $20,000.
A posting to Instagram by Coniglio says that DeVito’s agents raised his dressing fee after last week’s “Monday Night Football” game, in which DeVito led the New England Patriots to a comeback win over the Packers.
But after the story went viral on the internet, DeVito showed up at the pizzeria on Tuesday afternoon without being paid, according to Darren Rovell, a sports business writer.
There was no contract between the pizza shop and DeVito, according to his lawyer, Sean Stellato. He told Rovell that the company “didn’t hike the cost because nothing had been ever agreed to.”
Nino Coniglio, the owner of the pizzeria, replied to Rovell, “We agreed in essence to terms—two hours, 250 autographs, or $10,000—but then the agent couldn’t be reached.” Afterwards on Monday, he called to let us know that the price had raised to $20,000.
But everything works out in the end, because Coniglio shared an Instagram picture of Nino and DeVito sharing a pizza.
Because the undrafted youngster has done so well as the Giants’ odd starting quarterback, DeVito and Stellato are now famous.
At the start of the season, DeVito was on the practice squad. He helped the Giants’ slim playoff chances by taking them on a three-game winning streak, which included the game-winning drive against the Packers on December 11.
Giants teammates as well as fans have taken to celebrating DeVito’s Italian background, which is shown by the hand gesture he now uses to describe himself: fingers pinched together in the air.
The Giants’ winning streak ended on Sunday when the New Orleans Saints beat them badly.
Some Saints players made fun of the quarterback by making fun of the hand motion he made after being sacked during Sunday’s loss.
Coniglio’s Old Fashioned Pizzeria to Morristown first said on social media that DeVito’s appearance had been canceled because his appearance fee had been raised from $10,000 to $20,000.
This was said to have been communicated by DeVito’s agent after the quarterback’s impressive performance at a recent New York Giants game.
But after the story went viral on social media, DeVito showed up at the pizzeria upon Tuesday without being asked and without getting paid, according to sports business reporter Darren Rovell.
A dispute over a fee almost caused the New York Giants quarterback along with Italian American star to cancel his visit to a New Jersey pizza shop, but he showed up as planned to try pizza and talk to fans. Even better, writer Darren Rovell says he did it for free.
It’s a scene that practically didn’t happen because Coniglio and DeVito’s lawyer, Sean Stellato, argued online and threatened to cancel the show.
Thomas DeVito seems to have kept his end of a deal with a New Jersey pizza place, even though things went wrong at first.
On Sunday, Coniglio wrote on Instagram which Stellato doubled a agreed-upon $10,000 performance fee after DeVito led New York to a big win over the Packers of Green Bay on Monday night. It was DeVito’s third straight win as a starter for the Giants.
Stellato focused a lot on the relationship between DeVito and the Italian American community in New York and New Jersey because it was an evening game.
“After last week’s win, we received word from his booking agent that his appearance fee was going to be doubling (from $10,000 to $20,000); we’re a small family-run business and decided $20,000 had been a bit steep for 2 hours,” wrote Coniglio.