The NFL’s wild-card weekend wraps up Monday with ESPN’s coverage of the Steelers-Texans. Over on ESPN2, viewers will see the final episode of Monday Night Football’s popular ManningCast, with Peyton and Eli Manning.
Over five years, Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions has turned the Emmy Award–winning show into the gold standard for alternative telecasts. This season’s A-list guests included former President George W. Bush, Disney boss Bob Iger, TNT’s Charles Barkley, and funnymen Bill Murray and Shane Gillis. For Monday’s season finale, the Super Bowl–winning brothers will host Ben Roethlisberger and J.J. Watt.
Front Office Sports went one-on-one with Eli Manning about the show’s secret sauce. The two-time Super Bowl MVP also addressed Omaha’s plans for a ManningCast around ESPN’s first telecast of a Super Bowl on Feb. 14, 2027. Here are excerpts from the interview:
Front Office Sports: Eli, who were your favorite guests this season?
Eli Manning: There’s been so many of them. But I have to think it was former President George W. Bush. The fact [that] I’m interviewing a president? That should not be happening. I’m not qualified to do that. But he agreed to come on—and he was fabulous. His team was very protective: Only ask these questions. Don’t get off the script. It was one of the few times where we were very much supposed to stick to the script. Before we even asked the question, [Bush] led us all over the place. We didn’t stick to the script at all. He’s such a fun person to be around. He was having fun with it.
Those are the best guests. When there’s no real script. When we just start talking about football. They start asking us questions. It’s just very relaxed. Lainey Wilson was great. Jameis Winston was unbelievable. Marshawn Lynch. All of them are just characters. When their true personalities come out, those are the best interviews.
FOS: Jameis is great on TV. He has to have a career in sports media, no? Do you agree?
EM: 100%. I know during the bye week he did some TV. He comes on [the ManningCast]. Literally during the show, our producers were like, ‘Hey, do you want to ask him to come on next week, right now, on the air? Let’s get him for the playoff game?’ We’d never done that. We didn’t do it. But they could tell it was going very well. He’s got a great personality. He’s not scared to say anything. You tend to see that with guys who do a lot of interviews. Younger athletes are a little bit more reserved. They’re scared to say the wrong thing. Just come on and have fun. Doesn’t matter what you say. It’s all in good spirits.
FOS: ESPN president of content Burke Magnus told us at our Tuned In event there will be ManningCast for Super Bowl LXI. What are your thoughts?
EM: Yes, that will be new for us. Very exciting. As a player, it’s always the goal to get to the Super Bowl. As a broadcaster, the goal is to broadcast a Super Bowl. I never thought that would be in my future after I finished playing. Or even doing this alternate broadcast when we thought up this idea five years ago. What guests do you get for a Super Bowl? Try figuring out that one. … A lot will go into that. That will be fun.
FOS: Between you and your brother, you’ve had guests that include superstar athletes, U.S. presidents, Super Bowl–winning coaches, and Oscar winners. But there’s got to be some dream gets you’d still like to book. Who?
EM: Yes, we have our white whale list of people. Larry David has been on that one. I’m a Seinfeld guy, I’d love to get Jerry Seinfeld as well. Tiger Woods is a name that’s been on that. You have conversations when you see these people out and about. It’s fun when you see somebody at a Super Bowl or at an event. You see someone, you talk to them, you bring it up: “We’d love to have you on ManningCast.” You learn who they grew up rooting for and watching. So you store that in the back of your mind—until you see the schedule. “Hmm, the Chicago Bears are on Monday night. Let’s get Bill Murray. We know he’s a big fan.” I’m a big Bill Murray fan. It all works out sometimes.
FOS: Any thoughts on who you want to see coaching your Giants?
EM: Obviously, there’s a lot of open spots this year and coaches available. It’s always an important decision. There’s a couple of big names. You have a John Harbaugh out there. He had an 18-year career in one spot. He’s going to be on everybody’s list. He’s going to be in demand just because of that consistency he’s had his entire career. I know Kevin Stefanski was there the other day. He’s had good years in Cleveland. He seems like a good coach and person. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
FOS: Did you ever think your Chad Powers skit for Omaha’s Eli’s Places would turn into a Hulu comedy show with Glen Powell, one of Hollywood’s hottest stars?
EM: No, I did not even think that was possible. It’s been three and a half years since [co-creators] Glen Powell and Michael Waldron reached out and said, “We’d like to have a Zoom and talk to you about taking Chad Powers to the big screen.” I was like, “I’m ready for this, I’m ready to go to L.A., I’m ready to do this.” They were like, “No, you’re not in it.” I said, “O.K., that’s fine. That’s probably better!” Both of them are huge fans of college football. They love it. This is their twist on it. It’s so much fun to be involved a little bit. Talking with Glen, talking football stuff, talking with some of the writers. What happens around college football. What roles do coaches’ wives play? How do coaches communicate? Talking about some of those fun things. I’m excited for Season 2 to get going.
FOS: Can Glen Powell really spin it?
EM: He throws it well. You can tell he’s athletic and played sports. He worked hard on it. He went to coaches. He has a pretty natural throwing motion. I really talked to him about the other things. Breaking the huddle, at the line of scrimmage, the snap count, the cadence. … Those were the things Peyton and I really got into. If we saw something, we’d be like, “Nah, nah, nah, that’s not real.” We know there’s other things you have to Hollywood up. But there’s some things as a quarterback. … We have to make it look like a quarterback.
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Separately, Omaha executive producer Sam Pepper has his own white whale list of dream guests. They include: noted Bears fan Pope Leo XIV, 49ers fan Julia Roberts, Shaquille O’Neal, Denzel Washington, and Jamie Foxx.
Back in 2024, CBS Sports and Nickelodeon teamed up for the first alt-cast of a Super Bowl. Pepper says Omaha and ESPN will kick off planning for the Super Bowl ManningCast the day after the final gun sounds on this year’s Big Game.
“Nothing definitive in the works—but I’m sure we will have something super-special for everybody,” he says.
