Last Monday’s Omaha Productions/ESPN/NFL Films ManningCast alternate broadcast on ESPN2 was a unique one. It was the first time they’d ever done a broadcast covering both a linear game (Baltimore Ravens-Tampa Bay Buccaneers on ABC and ESPN) and a streaming-exclusive game (Arizona Cardinals-Los Angeles Chargers on ESPN+). And that came with some challenges.
The ManningCast focused on Ravens-Buccaneers while it was running before shifting to full analysis of Cardinals-Chargers. But the producers wanted to make sure there was some coverage of the ESPN+ game as well. So they brought in NFL Network’s Scott Hanson.
Hanson is particularly known for his Sunday hosting of NFL RedZone, which he has done since 2006. Last Monday, he came in to provide Cardinals-Chargers highlights throughout Ravens-Bucs, then act as more of a normal guest once that wrapped up. Hanson and ESPN coordinating producer Drew Gallagher spoke to AA about the unique broadcast, with Hanson saying it was a terrific experience for him.
“It was really fun. I think the audience loved it, all caps, with the RedZone/ManningCast crossover. For me, it took a little while to get used to the rhythm of interjecting in between a Bill Belichick story or an Ed Reed story or whatever was going on in the Ravens-Buccaneers game with a highlight from Cardinals-Chargers.
“But by the end of the game, I felt like Peyton, Eli, and myself got into a pretty good rhythm, and the fans seemed to love it. The producers were all telling me that social media was going crazy about it. …And Peyton and Eli texted me after the broadcast Monday and said they thought it was great, they both thought I did a great job and added value to the overall production.”
RedZone & ManningCast … apparently y’all loved the crossover!
Few clips courtesy of @OmahaProd … pic.twitter.com/vBjdKoAtKD— Scott Hanson (@ScottHanson) October 23, 2024
Through its first three seasons, the ManningCast had previously covered two games at once just a single time. That was with a Green Bay Packers-New York Giants (ABC)/Tennessee Titans-Miami Dolphins (ESPN) split last December.
Thus, a ManningCast covering two games at once wasn’t a well-established thing in the first place. And then there were further unique challenges with this new linear and digital split. Gallagher said the Cardinals-Chargers game being an ESPN+ exclusive meant the ESPN2 ManningCast was limited in how much they could show from it.
“The only other time we’ve done it on ManningCast was last year when we had two games going on at the same time, one on ESPN and one on ABC,” he said. “The difference there was both of those were linear TV, so we could sort of go to both games as much as we want. When the game’s an exclusive ESPN+ presentation, we can’t really give viewers the full experience, otherwise we’re not doing right by the ESPN+ audience.”
He said the ManningCast team knew that early on, though, which let them prepare for a highlights-focused approach to Chargers-Cardinals.
“Strategically, we knew we were going to have two games going on at the same time, and we knew we wouldn’t be able to provide true 50-50 coverage of both games because Chargers-Cardinals was an ESPN+ exclusive. So outside of a couple live two-box moments, we knew we were going to be largely kind of rolling back highlights of Chargers-Cardinals.”
Gallagher said they’d initially conceived of Hanson just as a guest for the final portion of the ManningCast, one who could update the viewers on what had happened in Chargers-Cardinals to that point.
“The initial plan was for Scott to come on once the Ravens-Bucs game concluded, once the ManningCast switched over to exclusively covering the Chargers-Cardinals game on ESPN+. Because since Peyton and Eli wouldn’t have been watching that game very closely, we wanted to have a guest on to provide Peyton and Eli and the audience any updates around what had happened in the game so far.
“So that was the initial plan, that he would just be part of that portion of the show once we switched over to ESPN+ after Ravens-Bucs, say, ‘Hey, let me get you caught up on what you might have missed in this game’ and fill in any blanks there.”
But that idea changed with the thought that Hanson could take a somewhat RedZone-esque approach to some in-game highlights during Ravens-Bucs.
“Then we thought ‘Well, why not have Scott do the cut-ins, the highlights, through the Ravens-Bucs game?'” Gallagher said. “‘He’ll be watching that closely, he knows how to handle that better than anyone, and it will be a fun way to sprinkle him sort of through the broadcast.'”
And Gallagher said Hanson’s joy at the prospect made it work, which was impressive considering how he’d just come off a day of RedZone.
“To Scott’s credit, he was totally game for that; he was enthusiastic, he was available pretty much all night to jump in whenever we needed him. And he had spent seven hours on Sunday doing that, that’s probably the last thing you’d want to do was to do that again on Monday night. But that’s Scott, he just loves football, and he jumped at it.”
Hanson said this role had some aspects that were simpler to manage than RedZone, but some that were more difficult. One of those was figuring out the right times to come in with updates.
“It was a little easier than a RedZone Sunday, because you only have to keep track of two games as opposed to eight. But it was a little trickier because on RedZone, there is no ManningCast that I’m interrupting or interjecting into.
“So I had to get a feel for ‘Okay, Bill Belichick was done with this piece of analysis, I can tap Eli and Peyton on the shoulder and say ‘Hey guys, I have an update on the Chargers’ defense’ or whatever. So that was a little bit different.”
He said he also had to adapt to being on a broadcast where he was an at-times guest rather than an always-on host.
“I knew I would be speaking far less on ManningCast than I do on RedZone, which totally makes sense. But I’m more than willing to take a backseat to the first family of football, the Mannings. However, I still wanted to try and bring my unique enthusiasm and energy to the broadcast, the same way I try to on a RedZone broadcast.”
But Hanson said his RedZone experience was highly helpful here, and he was thrilled with how this turned out.
“A lot of it was still the same. We’re watching football live with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, and Chris Fowler and the gang in the doubleheader game, and I’m just going to sneak in some context, a highlight, an update, something that’s going to add value to the viewer in between those play-by-play teams calling the game live in-stadium.
“So it’s similar from that respect, but different so far as there was another broadcast going on besides RedZone, and I had to negotiate through that. But the ManningCast producers were excellent, and they told me they loved the way that it worked. And I wouldn’t be surprised if we would do it again; I would think we would do it again.”
Gallagher said Hanson was the perfect fit for this, and the format also let him show off more than just highlights narration.
“In that role, what he was able to provide was more than just describing the highlight action, like ‘Okay, here’s Kyler Murray breaking for a long run.’ He was also able to let Peyton and Eli, and the audience, know what had happened in the game to that point. He could sneak in little things like a stat note, trends, injuries, stuff like that.
“So it added so much more than just ‘Hey, here’s the highlight.’ He was just able to be himself. And how cool was that, to have Scott Hanson doing these little cameos through the broadcast?”
Read on for Hanson’s take on the ManningCast overall, his history with Eli and Peyton, and his thoughts on quarter-zips, plus Gallagher’s thoughts on how this all came together on the technical side.
