NFL
Manningcast week 2: Who will be the guests for Falcons - Eagles?
Despite a star-studded guest list, “Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli” unperformed in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season.
The “Manningcast” has got ground to make up in Week 2, when the Philadelphia Eagles host the Atlanta Falcons, after a disappointing start to the 2024 NFL season.
Hosted by ex-Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and brother Eli, formerly of the New York Giants, “Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli”, as the show is officially known, has been the alternate live television broadcast of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” since the start of the 2021 season.
How many viewers did the “Manningcast” have in Week 1?
Prior to last week, the Sports Emmy Award-winning series has regularly attracted well over a million viewers, but various reports claim last Monday’s clash between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Jets drew an average of just 872,000, an all-time low.
That came as quite a surprise given the star-studded guest list for the show. Six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick has agreed to appear on the show throughout the 2024 season and was joined last week by Hollywood A-lister Adam Sandler and current Kansas City Chiefs star Chris Jones, who has won three championship rings in the last five years.
The drop in viewership was made all the more bemusing by ESPN’s numbers for “Monday Night Football”. Over 20.5 million people tuned in to see the Niners defeat Aaron Rodgers and Co, the show’s best figures since the Week 1 of the 2023 season. That came despite the DirecTV blackout reportedly affecting more than 10 million people.
Belichick signs up as “Manningcast” regular
Belichick returns for the Week 2 game between Philadelphia and Atlanta at Lincoln Financial Field but will be alongside two new guests: actor and Eagles fan Miles Teller, best known for featuring in “Fantastic Four,” “War Dogs and “Top Gun: Mavericks,” and former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, the NFL’s MVP in 2016.
Previous non-football guests have included LeBron James, Snoop Dogg, Dwayne Johnson and Barack Obama, while Tom Brady, Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes and Rodgers are among the NFL stars to have appeared.