One of the primary — and only — complaints about the popular ESPN2 Monday Night Football alt-cast the ManningCast is that there’s not always enough football.
Essentially working like a podcast during an NFL game, Eli and Peyton Manning have to juggle analysis and good conversation at the same time. Sometimes, the chatter overshadows the game.
In an interview on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast released Tuesday, Peyton Manning acknowledged feedback from the audience about this balancing act and pledged to interrupt guests more often in 2024 if a big play demands to be discussed.
“We have these guests on, we’ve learned that when we’re interviewing a guest about why they love football, we’ve gotta cut them off and say, ‘hold that thought, I’ve gotta tell you what Aaron Rodgers just did here,'” Manning explained. “Eli and I weren’t doing that enough because we didn’t want to be rude. We didn’t want to interrupt y’all, but fans have kind of spoken in a little study that we did and said hey, we want to hear about the big plays that happen.”
As part of that evolution, Manning said the ManningCast will cut down a bit on celebrity guests overall. And he believes the addition of Bill Belichick as a weekly guest will go a long way toward fixing the problem as well.
“Belichick’s gonna be a first-half guest, and then maybe just have two guests in the second half,” Manning said. “Try to have one former player or a current player, and then maybe one celebrity, maybe just to have enough of a football discussion in the first quarter.”
The best-case scenario came right away in the first-ever ManningCast in 2021 when Russell Wilson joined for all of the fourth quarter and overtime to help the Mannings break down a big Oakland Raiders Week 1 win.
Thanks @RichEisen!!! Peyton & Eli are class acts! Blast to talk 🏈 on MNF #ManningCast#NowTimeToGoGetMyRingBack 🤨 https://t.co/xSdGrG0z1m
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) September 14, 2021
Manning reiterated that while he and Eli don’t want their show to feel just like a second broadcast of Monday Night Football, they understand the need to balance interviews with the real reason the audience is there, which is football.
“The show is supposed to be different than the main broadcast,” Manning said. “They don’t want just me and Eli talking, so we have to be different. Those are our instructions. So we think being sure the guests are dialed into the game and being sure we’re always talking about what’s going on in the game … those are the couple things we want to work on.”
ESPN and Omaha Productions announced the 2024 schedule and teased this season’s guests on social media on Tuesday. Guests will include Livvy Dunne, Robert Downey Jr., and Snoop Dogg.
The ManningCast remains popular and valuable to ESPN, but that doesn’t mean it won’t have to evolve and improve like any other show.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is an Editorial Lead at Awful Announcing overseeing digital content and special projects. He lives in Phoenix and has covered sports media for Awful Announcing since 2023.