The ManningCast, hosted by brothers Peyton and Eli Manning, has been one of the most beloved alternatives in NFL broadcasting since its debut in 2021.
However, viewership has been dropping steadily for some time, and the Week 7 numbers do not bode well for the show. NBC Sports' Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk noted the drop in figures this week and weighed in on what is driving the decline.
Florio reported that the Week 7 Cowboys-Eagles edition drew just 517,000 viewers, well below the more than 1 million the show routinely pulled in at its peak. Disney's Next Gen Stats broadcast on NFL Network drew 499,000 viewers the same week, putting it within striking distance of a show that was once in a different category entirely.
Florio argued that the alt cast format has a structural problem that the viewership trend reflects.
"It's ultimately no surprise. The ESPN alt casts do not bring in viewers who would otherwise not watch the game. It simply pulls viewers away from the primary broadcast," Florio wrote .
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He added that the guest format has changed what the show actually is: "Most people want to just watch the game. Once the guests arrive for the ManningCast, it becomes a podcast with a football game playing in the background."
The most recent episode on Monday featured Jalen Brunson of the New York Knicks and former NFL head coach Wade Phillips as guests during the Cowboys' 38-21 win over the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Brunson joined in the third quarter and spoke about growing up around Eagles fans and idolizing Donovan McNabb. He was also challenged by Peyton to spend 30 seconds saying something positive about Dallas.
The reaction from viewers was directly tied to how far the show had moved from the game itself.
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"The ManningCast was a nice change of pace until Disney started using it as nothing but a vehicle to cross-promote movies and television shows," wrote one user on X .
Others were more pointed about what they wanted to see fixed.
"Stop with the stupid Guests. ESPN always finds a way to ruin a great product. Add another to the list," said one fan .
"The guests have become too much of the show and not usually very entertaining or informative," wrote another fan .
BroBible sports editor Jorge Alonso put it plainly. "Too many celebrity guests, they were fine in the beginning, but I want to listen to football talk during football," Alonso wrote .
Several fans reduced the fix to the same simple answer.
"All they have to do is get rid of the guests," said one user .
Some described in more specific terms how the guest segments affect what watching the game actually feels like.
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"Listening to detailed breakdown of the game is awesome. Listening to garage banter amongst friends is distracting. Would never watch my team on the ManningCast. It detracts from the game if you care about it at all," wrote one fan .
"Shocking. ESPN had something awesome and speed ran ruining it with guests talking about upcoming [expletive] movies they're in," said another user .
Peyton and Eli have been in the alternate booth since the first ManningCast aired on September 13, 2021. Peyton won two Super Bowls during his playing career, and so did Eli, and the combination of their football credibility and natural back-and-forth gave the show an identity in its early seasons that felt different from anything else in the broadcast space at that time.
ESPN extended its deal with Omaha Productions, Peyton's production company, through 2034 in April 2024. The 2026 campaign marked the brothers' sixth season.
The ManningCast's season runs through Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, which will be ESPN's first-ever Super Bowl broadcast, giving Peyton and Eli the chance to bring their format to the biggest game on the NFL calendar.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
