Making a run at Peyton
FOX, ESPN vying for Manning's services
In an NFL offseason in which ESPN has already considered a total reboot of “Monday Night Football” and FOX added the Thursday night package for billions, Peyton Manning’s decision to possibly enter the TV booth remains the most intriguing storyline.
Both ESPN and FOX have Manning atop their list to be their prime-time game analyst, sources told The Post. Manning has been approached multiple times about becoming a TV analyst since he retired, but has been reluctant.
Manning has said his ultimate goal is to be like John Elway and have an ownership stake in a team while running football operations. Multiple TV officials who have spoken to him believe that remains his long-term target, but Manning has not fully ruled out TV in the interim.
Before last season, FOX reached out to Manning to see if he would be interested in going into the studio or being a game analyst. As he has told all the networks annually, he did not want to become a broadcaster at that time. FOX will try again, but at this point, ESPN is being far more aggressive.
In the words of one source, ESPN is willing to “back up the truck” for Manning, wanting to make a splash in replacing Jon Gruden as the analyst on “Monday Night Football.” Gruden was reportedly the highest-paid ESPN employee, making more than $6.5 million before leaving for a 10-year, $100 million coaching deal with the Raiders.
While lead play-by-player Sean McDonough is currently in place, ESPN executives have considered a total restructuring of their Monday night booth, sources said. There was a feeling McDonough lacked chemistry with Gruden, plus NFL officials have not been fans of some of McDonough’s critiques on officiating, among other topics.
“If you were going to do it, this is the time,” one source said of the “MNF” total-reboot idea.
The four internal possibilities are Joe Tessitore, Steve Levy, Dave Pasch and Bob Wischusen. Neither Levy nor Tessitore has ever called an NFL game. Pasch has been the radio voice of the Arizona Cardinals. Wischusen, the longtime Jets radio voice, also has NFL experience.
Top external candidates could include CBS’ Ian Eagle and FOX’s Kevin Burkhardt, but the No. 2 NFL play-by-players for their respective networks both just signed new deals, according to sources.
If ESPN is unable to convince Manning to join the “MNF” booth, the network is planning to hold auditions for its internal candidates, a source said. Analysts such as Matt Hasselbeck of “NFL Countdown” (who called the Pro Bowl with McDonough), Randy Moss and Charles Woodson would have a chance. None of them has an inside track at this point, the source said. Kurt Warner is another outside candidate to consider.
Meanwhile, Manning is the first person FOX wants to talk to about the Thursday night package it just acquired for a reported $3.3 billion for f ive years. This weekend, Manning is scheduled to drive the pace car at the Daytona 500, which will be televised by FOX. Top FOX executives will be at the event.
Before settling on a lead playby-player, FOX would like to have its analyst set. Gus Johnson is a candidate to be FOX’s play-by-player on Thursday night football. He currently is its lead college football and basketball announcer.
Both Joe Buck and Burkhardt work the MLB postseason for FOX and Sunday NFL games, which would make it logistically difficult to call Thursday night football. FOX wants one team to handle all the games and not have different sets of announcers handling the games based on the matchups, which has been speculated.