ESPN’s annual pursuit of Peyton Manning has ended as one would expect.
The New York Post reported Monday that Manning has turned down ESPN’s overtures to join its Monday Night Football broadcast booth, marking the third-straight year that the former Colts and Broncos QB has turned down the network.
According to the Post, ESPN never got to the point of putting a dollar amount on what it would offer Manning, though previous reporting indicated that the network was willing to exceed the $10 million mark annually.
Manning’s disinterest in joining ESPN is nothing personal. He has turned down all offers to enter the broadcast booth since his 2016 retirement. Fox Sports and ESPN were prepared for a bidding war over his services in 2017 and he was not interested. Per the Post, CBS offered him a deal in the ballpark of $10-14 million as a backup plan in case Tony Romo left for another network, but he again was not interested.
Manning’s broadcasting plans have thus far followed the model of the late Kobe Bryant. Bryant would no doubt have generated significant interest from the NBA’s broadcast partners as a conventional studio or game analyst, but instead hosted his own ESPN+ show breaking down gameplay, Detail (to say nothing of his other media endeavors). Manning hosts an NFL version of Detail, plus a separate ESPN+ show called Peyton’s Places.
It seems clear now that the prospect of Manning working in a traditional broadcast booth or studio will require a major about face.
[News from NYP 3.23]
