Report: No Place For Peyton On MNF

Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning turned down ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” The NY Post is reporting.

Sources say the overriding factor was whether Manning finally wanted to enter the broadcast booth and commit to the weekly schedule in the fall. The answer remains no, write The Post's Andrew Marchand.

Manning has declined to be an MNF analyst on multiple occasions, turning down basically every network since he retired from the NFL in 2016.

ESPN and Manning’s broadcast agent, Sandy Montag, declined comment.

Manning has done “Peyton’s Places” and “Detail” shows for ESPN+. If he had agreed to do MNF and combined it with his current role, Manning conceivably would have been in Tony Romo’s $18 million per year neighborhood.

ESPN had dreamed of an Al Michaels and Peyton Manning booth, but NBC initially balked at letting ESPN talk to Michaels.  He has two years remaining on his deal.

The exact figure ESPN was willing to offer Manning is unknown. However, according to sources, ESPN had capped its proposed offer to Tony Romo at 10 years and $140 million. ESPN never got the chance to put it in front of Romo because CBS signed Romo for $180 million in full value over 10 years.

A contract offer in the $12-14 million range seemed realistic for “Monday Night Football,” but it never fully got to that point with Manning, according to sources.