Manningcast

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  On the 13th of September 2021, the Manningcast aired for the first time. The game on the field that night featured the Las Vegas Raiders against the Baltimore Ravens. On ESPN2, brothers Peyton and Eli Manning hosted an alternate presentation of the same Monday Night Football broadcast. Both were retired NFL quarterbacks. Omaha Productions, Peyton's own company, handled the production. The original deal covered three seasons, ten games each year. What followed grew far beyond those original terms. It produced an unlikely superstition that unnerved guest athletes. The format itself would find its way into broadcasts the Mannings had nothing to do with.

  2381

• 2. A Deal Built to Last

  ›

  ESPN announced the partnership on the 19th of July 2021. Omaha Productions already had a working relationship with the network, having produced Peyton's Places for ESPN+. Three specific matchups were named in advance for the first weeks of the 2021 season; the remaining games were confirmed later.

  On the 13th of November 2021, ESPN announced that the format would extend to the network's Monday-night Wild Card Game during the playoffs.

  In February 2022, ESPN expanded the contract through the 2024 NFL season. That expansion also brought Omaha Productions into other sports, including college football, golf, and UFC events.

  On the 10th of April 2024, ESPN and Omaha Productions signed a new agreement extending the arrangement through 2034.

  The 2024 season introduced a prominent recurring guest. Bill Belichick, the former New England Patriots head coach, appeared during the first half of every game that season. His time on the show ended when the University of North Carolina hired him to lead their football program. UNC's athletic director Bubba Cunningham said Belichick would still make regular appearances. Peyton Manning, however, confirmed that Belichick would no longer contribute to the alternate broadcasts.

  Among those who appeared on the Manningcast, an unusual pattern in their teams' performance emerged in the weeks following their visits.

  2457

• 3. The Manningcast Curse

  ›

  During the 2021 season, a pattern emerged that observers compared to the Madden curse. Players who made guest appearances on the Manningcast found their teams losing the following week, despite being favored to win. The lone exception that year was Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.

  The 2022 season reversed the trend entirely. Every player who appeared on the Manningcast that year won their next game.

  In 2023, the pattern returned with renewed force. All NFL players who served as guests saw their teams lose the week after. Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors experienced the same result. Caitlin Clark was not affected. At the time of her appearance, her Iowa team was beginning a 15-game winning streak, and 14 of those wins came after she appeared.

  The curse remained an active talking point as the Manningcast moved into its third and fourth seasons.

  495051

• 4. A Sports Emmy and SNL

  ›

  The Manningcast won the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Series at the 43rd Sports Emmy Awards on the 24th of May 2022. Peyton Manning received a nomination for Outstanding Sports Personality/Sports Event Analyst; Eli Manning was nominated for Outstanding Sports Personality/Emerging On-Air Talent. Both brothers were nominated in the same categories again in 2023. The 2024 ceremony added another Outstanding Live Sports Series citation and the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award to the show's record.

  On the 1st of October 2022, Saturday Night Live opened its 48th season premiere with a Manningcast parody in the cold opening. Miles Teller, the episode's host, played Peyton Manning. Andrew Dismukes played Eli. The sketch placed the two characters in commentary mode for a scene themed around the FBI search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. The Manning characters made self-deprecating remarks about major cast changes that had taken effect at SNL that season.

  The 2022 Sports Emmy ceremony also recognized the show's production team with an Outstanding Technical Team Studio nomination.

  6566636470

• 5. A Format That Spread

  ›

  During the 2022 NCAA Women's Final Four, ESPN2 aired an alternate broadcast called The Bird & Taurasi Show. It featured basketball players Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. ESPN continued applying the same approach to subsequent NCAA women's tournaments and for an NBA Christmas game in 2023.

  The KayRod Cast aired during select Sunday Night Baseball games in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez as hosts. Those broadcasts ended when Rodriguez signed an exclusive contract with Fox Sports.

  At the 2022 PGA Championship, Joe Buck and Michael Collins hosted a similar alternate broadcast. Troy Aikman, Charles Barkley, and the Mannings made guest appearances. The broadcasts marked the on-air ESPN debut for both Buck and Aikman. Both had recently moved from Fox Sports to serve as Monday Night Football's new lead commentators. Buck had previously led Fox's USGA tournament coverage from 2015 through mid-2020. That PGA Championship edition was also the first Omaha-produced alternate broadcast outside of Monday Night Football. Matt Barrie replaced Buck for the 2023 PGA Championship version, and the No Laying Up podcast hosted the 2024 edition.

  In August 2022, six college football games on ESPN2 were scheduled for a Manning-produced alternate broadcast, with Pat McAfee as host.

  Starting with the 2022-23 NBA season, ESPN launched NBA in Stephen A's World, hosted by Stephen A. Smith. Kevin Hart and the comedy group the Plastic Cup Boyz hosted NBA Unplugged, also produced by Omaha.

  In June 2023, ESPN announced that Omaha Productions would produce alternate coverage of three remaining North American Formula One races. The races were scheduled for Montreal, Austin, and Las Vegas, with Daniel Ricciardo and Will Arnett set to present. Ricciardo was called up to replace Scuderia AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries after the British Grand Prix. That change meant the planned broadcasts never came to fruition.

  The Manningcast's contract now runs through 2034. The alternate broadcast format Peyton and Eli Manning helped launch still has years of Monday nights ahead.

  5452575961