When it comes to his long-term goals, Peyton Manning has kept his cards close since retiring from the NFL. He’s dipped his toe in the media world, made himself an ambassador of sorts for the NFL, shown some interest in being a commentator, and even been thrown out there as a potential future commissioner.
While the presumed path of NFL talking head never came to fruition, Peyton and brother Eli have added a new spin on the Monday Night Football viewing experience this season with the ManningCast. A big hit in social media circles and modest success in the ratings, the alternate broadcast has given Peyton a foothold in the media space on his own terms. So popular is the broadcast that Amazon has been rumored to be interested in poaching it in a couple of years.
However, rumors of Manning’s true interest in NFL franchise ownership have long persisted. That interest appears to be mile-high, according to CBS Sports’s Jason La Canfora, who reported Sunday that new potential ownership groups for the Denver Broncos have been lining up and Manning “has already had discussions with several of the groups expected to be favorites to land the team.”
Furthermore, plans for Pat Bowlen’s heirs to sell the franchise appear to be in motion, and, barring some unforeseen circumstances, a new ownership group “would be fully on board by the October ownership meetings next year.”
That means, assuming Manning aligns himself with the winning ownership group, he would be a part-owner and potentially an executive within the Broncos organization by the time the 2022 NFL season rolled around. And that almost certainly means he would not be able to continue the ManningCast broadcast for ESPN2.
Logistically, it just wouldn’t make sense. It would be extremely hard to be an executive for an NFL franchise and then split those duties with preparing to broadcast games about other teams each week. It’s true that Eli is employed by the New York Giants and still works on the broadcast, but his role is way different from that of a team owner and potential executive.
And that’s to say nothing of the ethical concerns. Should someone who presumably has the ability to sign, cut, trade, or influence the value of NFL players to be allowed to go on television and talk about them as if they’re an independent voice? It’s unclear if there is a rule barring owners from working in the media space, but even if there isn’t it just doesn’t feel right.
Peyton even once said that he didn’t like the idea of working as an NFL commentator because it meant he’d have to potentially criticize Eli, so he’s unlikely to want to be in that position with Broncos players that he has a say in employing.
