The popular yet simple yet groundbreaking yet casually fun ManningCast burst onto the NFL scene in 2021. It’s back again, as expected, for 2022.
Like last year, brothers Peyton and Eli will conduct a companion broadcast to Monday Night Football 10 times. The schedule consists of Week One (Broncos at Seahawks), Week Three (Cowboys at Giants), Week Four (Rams at 49ers), Week Seven (Bears at Patriots), Week Eight (Bengals at Browns), Week Nine (Ravens at Saints), Week 13 (Saints at Buccaneers), Week 14 (Patriots at Cardinals), Week 15 (Rams at Packers), and the Monday night of Wild Card Weekend.
All 10 ManningCasts will be available on ESPN2, with four also on ESPN+.
It’s a great listen, even if it sometimes gets in the way of enjoying the game -- especially when they have guests. (Which they frankly don’t need.) I usually watch it on Tuesday mornings, as a way to re-watch the game while hearing whatever Peyton and Eli had to say about it. And I enjoy it.
The value of it to ESPN remains unclear. It surely doesn’t get people to watch the game who otherwise wouldn’t tune in, and it siphons viewers away from the main broadcast. For whatever Disney is paying (and it’s surely a lot), it’s very fair to ask whether the publicly-traded company is getting a full and proper return for its shareholders.