Peyton Manning sometimes wonders how this setup came to exist at all, to say nothing of its popularity.
The Hall of Fame quarterback, retired since early 2016, has the best of both worlds when it comes to the ManningCast broadcasts of Monday Night Football games on ESPN2.
“The game’s important to me,” Manning said this week at the Mizel Institute’s annual event, where he was honored as the organization’s community enrichment award winner. “I’m a staunch defender of the game, so to stay close to it, do it in a fun way and work with Eli and sort of try to bring out the positives of the game and still be involved in our kids’ lives (is rewarding). I mean, my daughter Mosley plays volleyball and I go to her games from like 4-5 on Mondays and then I drive over to my buddy’s garage and get to call a Monday Night Football game.
“It doesn’t really make a lot of sense and for some reason they’ve renewed us to do it.”
More than that, really. Manning’s built a media empire in Omaha Productions, which last month finalized a 10-year extension of its partnership with ESPN.
This fall, the Manning brothers are adding longtime New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick to the ManningCast, too.
“Now, explain that,” Peyton Manning said. “I was kind of wondering if I’d been hit in the head too many times that I was recruiting a guy who was being courted by the other networks and I was recruiting a guy that pretty much made a lot of my football life miserable. And I was saying, ‘No, we really want you to come work with us.’
“I think that’ll be great, right, to bring a whole different kind of insight to the game on the defensive side. Coach Belichick knows all things football. Tom Brady used to tell me he’d sit with Belichick on Tuesdays and Belichick would just kind of tell him what we need to do to win this game. Tom, this is what the defense is going to try to do to you. Tony Dungy did that with me.
“So to have that different perspective on every game that Eli and I are doing this year, I think, will be awesome. We’re excited to do it again and it’s been fun to do.”
All from the comfort of home, too, which for Manning has been Denver for the past 12 years since arriving here to play for the Broncos in 2012.
Manning on Wednesday night said all of that plus his various initiatives and family has him plenty busy and not thinking, at least currently, about direct team involvement or ownership in the NFL.
“I don’t think that’s anywhere on my radar by any means,” he said of running a team. “I love being an ambassador for the Broncos and for the (Indianapolis) Colts, for the University of Tennessee. Obviously, living here I get to go to all the Broncos games. I was out at the facility the other day. Our kids do sports in the area around Dove Valley, so I’m probably at the facility a couple times a week. They have great snacks over there in their cafeteria. I don’t know if I’m being charged for those or what. I still have my key fob from when I played. (Vice president of security) Keith Bishop never made that go away, so that’s helpful as well. I’m excited about still being a part of the team and being part of the community. ….
“I still feel an attachment and have really enjoyed getting to know the Walton-Penner family as well. But as far as running a team, I don’t think that’s on my radar.”
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