If you haven’t had enough of Peyton Manning lately, there’s good news: The Hall of Fame quarterback and All-Pro pitchman will be on your TV even more this year.
Manning will join Mike Tirico and Kelly Clarkson as NBC builds an eclectic team to cover the 2024 Summer Olympics’ opening ceremony this summer in Paris.
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Apparently, the comments about team costumes haven’t been smart-alecky enough in the past.
On The Sports Media Podcast, guests wondered if Manning could be the next Michael Strahan (ABC’s ”Good Morning America” and “Live! With Kelly and Michael”) or Nate Burleson (”CBS Mornings”), former football players who have crafted careers beyond being a sports analyst.
“I don’t know that [Manning] wants to do something like that,” said Tom Jones, Poynter Senior Media Writer. “But certainly, the career he’s taken afterward, he could do something like that.”
He added: “His post-playing career ... could not have gone, I don’t think, any better. It’s planned out as well as can be. He’s a great pitchman with the commercials for Nationwide and Subway and Papa John’s and all that. He has the ManningCast with his brother, Omaha Productions, which is just doing great. But now, he’s taking it to ... a new level by being named as one of the co-hosts of the NBC Opening Ceremony host for the Olympics.”
“It takes him in front of an audience that normally doesn’t see him. There’s a lot of sports fans, obviously, who watch the Olympics. But the Opening Ceremonies is sort of a different animal. This is more to use a comparison like a Today Show crowd, kind of just the general TV viewers who are interested in the Olympics. And so, for him to go there, he’s going to be in front of 16-18 million people … I just think this takes him to a different level.”
Sports Business Journal’s ustin Karp isn’t sure Manning’s appeal translates to non-sports avenues.
“The only thing that I will differ from you on is I don’t see him in a Strahan or Burleson role,” he said. “I think his lane might be more in sports. But as you said, the Opening Ceremony — that’s going to be the most-watched night of the Paris Olympics.”
According to Awful Announcing: Manning’s Omaha Productions started with Peyton’s Places documentaries on ESPN+. In 2021, they launched The ManningCast, an alternate Monday Night Football broadcast featuring Peyton and brother Eli Manning. The show’s success led to a contract extension through 2024 and potential expansion into other sports with ESPN. In 2023, Omaha Productions received a major investment, valuing the company at $400 million. The company is now a big player in the world of sports docuseries and programming.
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