Peyton Manning to Host New ESPN+ Original Series Peyton’s Places

• Five-part, 30-episode football series will celebrate the NFL’s 100^th Season
• Peyton travels the country to speak with former players, coaches and other key figures about football history and its cultural impact
• Produced by NFL Films and ESPN+, Part 1 debuts on ESPN+ in July
• ESPN and ABC will also air special compilation shows

Peyton’s Places, a 30-episode documentary series hosted by legendary quarterback Peyton Manning, is coming to ESPN+. Peyton will host the football-themed series, revisiting seminal moments in NFL history through conversations with former players, coaches and other key figures about football history and its cultural impact. The series will be part of the celebration of the National Football League’s 100^th season.

Produced by NFL Films in collaboration with ESPN+, Peyton’s Places will debut in July exclusively on the leading direct-to-consumer sports streaming service. The series will be presented in five chapters – each consisting of six episodes. ESPN or ABC will air special compilations, recapping each part after the full episodes debut on ESPN+. Part 1 will be available on ESPN+ on Monday, July 15, while Parts 2–5 will debut in subsequent months through January 2020.

Peyton, who also serves as one of the show’s executive producers, says:  “This is a journey through 100 years of history, visiting the people and places that have made the NFL what it is. From throwing a football off a skyscraper to re-enacting the Immaculate Reception and running Elvis Presley’s football plays, every episode on ESPN+ will surprise even the most die-hard fan.”

Connor Schell, ESPN executive vice president, content, added: “Peyton is a football legend and has contributed so much to the game throughout his career, making him the perfect steward to take fans on this journey through the 100-year history of the National Football League. His sense of humor, wit, and reverence for the traditions of football will produce wonderful stories for this series on ESPN+.”

Peyton’s Places offers a fun, insightful tour through 100 years of football, following the sport and the league’s rise to an American cultural touchstone. For nearly a year, Peyton has crisscrossed the country, visiting the people and places that have played an important part in the making of the NFL – highlighting memorable events, teams, players and trends over the past century. Peyton and a team of NFL Films senior producers chose the people, places and stories in the series. Highlights include:

• Peyton and Joe Namath re-watch the coaching film from Super Bowl III during a game of pool.
• While eating crabs in Baltimore, Ray Lewis and Peyton discuss the evolution of NFL defenses.
• At the 49ers History Museum, Peyton and Joe Montana deconstruct “The Catch”, while Steve Young discusses the dearth of left-handed quarterbacks in the NFL today.
• In Houston, Peyton compares Texans All-Pro J.J. Watt to old-school game-wreckers of past generations.
• Peyton and his brother Eli, the Giants’ two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, visit the kitchen where the Lombardi Trophy was created from a box of Corn Flakes.
• Peyton and Mel Kiper Jr. review Kiper’s library of Draft Guides, exploring how the ESPN NFL Draft guru helped turn a “boring” business meeting into great television.
• Peyton joins comedian Jay Leno for a ride in a Hupmobile to commemorate how the classic automobile helped in the creation of the National Football League.
• Former presidential speechwriter Ben Stein shares how President Richard Nixon, enthralled with the NFL, intervened and forced an end to the NFL’s policy of blacking out all home games on television.
• Peyton visits Graceland in Memphis, where Elvis Presley’s best friend, Jerry Schilling, shows how while “The King” never wrote a song, he drew up dozens of plays for his touch football team.
• Peyton tries to solve the mystery of “The Immaculate Reception” by re-creating the play with help from Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris and others.
• After a lesson from Rich Karlis, Peyton kicks barefoot for the first time.
• Peyton pops champagne corks with ’72 Dolphins to commemorate the only Perfect Season in NFL History.
• Peyton learns how to play both ways like Sammy Baugh from Hall of Fame defensive back Deion Sanders.
• Peyton re-enacts a New York Giants publicity stunt from the 1920’s by throwing a pass off the top of the Radiator Building in Manhattan.

Peyton’s Places is the second series on ESPN+ to feature Peyton Manning. In 2018, he collaborated with NFL Films and Kobe Bryant’s award-winning Granity Studios on an eight-episode NFL edition of Detail, the ground-breaking X’s and O’s sports analysis program, which airs exclusively on ESPN+. The two-time Super Bowl champion and five-time NFL MVP played 18 NFL seasons, passed for nearly 72,000 yards and was also the host of the 25th ESPYS on ABC in 2017.

About ESPN+:

ESPN+ is the multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer and International (DTCI) segment and ESPN. It reached two million subscribers in less than a year and offers fans thousands of live events, on-demand content and original programming not available on ESPN’s linear TV or digital networks, along with premium editorial content.

Programming on ESPN+ includes hundreds of MLB and NHL games, exclusive UFC and Top Rank boxing events, top domestic and international soccer, thousands of college sports events (including football, basketball and other sports), Grand Slam tennis, international and domestic rugby and cricket, new and exclusive series, acclaimed studio shows and the full library of ESPN’s award-winning 30 for 30 films. Fans subscribe to ESPN+ for just $4.99 a month (or $49.99 per year) and can cancel at any time.

ESPN+ is available as an integrated part of the ESPN App (on mobile and connected devices) and ESPN.com. They are the industry-leading all-in-one digital sports platform, delivering a rich, personalized experience to tens of millions of fans every month.

(Photo Courtesy of NFL Films)

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