Manning brothers to join NFL’s Monday telecasts
ESPN has finally landed Peyton Manning as a “Monday Night Football” commentator. It’s just not in a way anyone expected, and it won’t be for the full season.
Monday, Walt Disney Company announced a partnership with Manning and his Omaha Productions company in which Peyton and Eli Manning will be part of a “Monday Night Football” MegaCast for 10 games a year the next three seasons.
Manning, who will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame next month, long has been rumored as a “Monday Night Football” commentator since he retired after the 2015 season, but the sides were never able to reach an agreement. Now fans will be able to get his views, albeit in a different format and with his brother, who retired last year after leading the New York Giants to two Super Bowl titles.
The Mannings’ MegaCast will debut the first three weeks of this season, including the Sept. 13 opener between the Baltimore Ravens and Las Vegas Raiders, with the remaining seven weeks to be announced. It will air on ESPN2 and be streamed on ESPN+ while the standard broadcast will be on ESPN and/or ABC.
The crew of Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Louis Riddick, Lisa Salters and John Parry will return for a second season.
ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement that the MegaCast is designed to complement the telecast.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in April when the league finalized 11year broadcast agreements that the networks would have more leeway for alternate broadcasts.
Raiders team president Marc Badain has resigned after helping orchestrate the team’s move to Las Vegas.
Owner Mark Davis announced that executive vice president and general counsel Dan Ventrelle will take over on
an interim basis.
Badain went from being a ball boy for the team to a 30year career with the organization. He eventually became the chief financial officer for the team and was an assistant to former CEO Amy Trask. He took over as interim president in 2013 when Trask resigned and got the fulltime job in
2015. He helped put together the stadium deal in Las Vegas that led to the team’s move.
The Steelers are signing threetime Pro Bowl linebacker Melvin Ingram to a oneyear contract to add depth at one of their thinnest positions, a source confirmed to the Pittsburgh PostGazette.