The honeymoon period appears to be over for ESPN’s “ManningCast.”
Some bad news has emerged this week for “ManningCast,” the alternate “Monday Night Football” telecast run by legendary NFL brothers Peyton and Eli Manning. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reports that “ManningCast” had a very low viewership during the Week 1 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos.
“ManningCast” reportedly had just 705,000 viewers during its telecast on ESPN2. The flagship “Monday Night Football” broadcast on ESPN produced incredible viewing numbers itself however with a record-setting 23.2 million viewers (making for the network’s most-watched Week 1 NFL game ever).
Those stats mean that “ManningCast” got just three percent of the overall viewership of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” That is obviously a very concerning sign for them going forward into the 2026 NFL season.
Peyton and Eli have been on the ESPN airwaves doing their alternate telecast since 2021, meaning that this is now their sixth season on the network. “ManningCast” originally drew rave reviews from fans due to its unique football commentary and in-depth tactical analysis by the Manning brothers, who are two of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all-time.
But “ManningCast” has since slowly transitioned into more of a guest-based show, resulting in more watered-down Xs and Os content. While “ManningCast” is still good for the occasional viral moment or two, it has clearly lost its novelty in the eyes of fans at this point.
