Is the ManningCast all you know of Omaha Productions? If it is, there is a whole world of content you are missing. Peyton Manning’s production company has created a slew of shows for ESPN+. It partnered with Patrick Mahomes’s 2PM Productions to bring Quarterback to Netflix. It is also active in the audio space, launching a slate of podcasts for ESPN in June of last year. One of those shows was Always College Football, hosted by former Alabama quarterback and current ESPN analyst and JOX 94.5 morning man Greg McElroy.
Many college football fans see 2023 as the sport’s “last normal year.” The expanding College Football Playoff field will make it possible for teams with two or even three losses to play for a National Championship, a possibility previously unthinkable to lifers like myself and McElroy.
A broadcaster who spends a lot of time in front of an audience, whether it’s on video or audio only, McElroy and I connected during one of his rare downtimes. He told me about the care that went into launching Always College Football, why some fans won’t give him the benefit of the doubt, and how TV prep becomes podcast content.
Demetri Ravanos: As a fan, I see this as one of the most interesting times of the college football year. What does that mean for the podcast? Do numbers go up when Texas A&M fires a coach or when the playoff rankings get serious?
Greg McElroy: It’s kind of funny. For a long time, this time of year would get a little bit slower, partly because some teams were out of it and those fans kind of checked out. Everyone seems to return for rivalry week, but it feels like the first two to three weeks in November were a little bit of a slow time.
With early signing day now in the middle of December, you’re seeing coaches getting dismissed earlier than they used to. So it’s really ramping up quite a bit. Obviously with the playoffs now set to go into 12 teams, that’s going to make interest even more significant because there are more teams that will actually have a puncher’s chance. The dialogue is going to be between a bunch of teams with two and three losses trying to measure résumes. So I can see what was at one point a relatively slow time of year turning into what might be the craziest time of the year.
DR: So with that in mind, as you’re putting together a show on the podcast side, who is the audience that you and your producers have in mind? Is it the most hardcore fans who already consume the show or are you trying to be as relatable as possible to anybody that just might want to know more about what’s going on in college football?
GM: So our goal when we started the podcast was to serve all of college football, and I feel like we’ve succeeded. I do a lot of studio television and because of the time constraints, I don’t have the luxury of hitting some of the matchups that might not be as meaningful to the College Football Playoff or a matchup not involving a team that’s in the top 10. So I felt like it was seldom discussed, even though, for instance, Kansas and Kansas State was a really big game and that, to me, is a game that deserves a lot of attention. Even though Tennessee and Missouri, they’re not technically playing for much, are both unlikely to do anything as it relates to the playoff, I feel like that’s a massive matchup, especially for a team like Mizzou that hasn’t experienced this type of success in recent years. So our goal was to highlight the matchups, tell the stories, and not just serve the playoff contenders. I feel like we get plenty of that on your linear programs.
I just felt that there was a huge audience that was being underserved because of how much attention was paid to the top teams. We still cover those teams, but it felt like there weren’t enough people nationally covering games that also mattered, albeit maybe to a smaller segment of the population.
We just have more time to be able to talk to [Kansas coach] Lance Leipold or about UCF, to be able to talk about programs that have big fanbases and good followings but maybe their games in November aren’t as meaningful as the games involving Michigan, Ohio State and Georgia. So that’s kind of why we did it. It’s been met with with a decent amount of good reviews and people have been pleased.
Our Thursday show is our bell cow. That’s where we take the top matchups of the weekend and break them down in detail. It’s not for everybody. We acknowledge that we’re not hitting the tree tops and we’re going into the weeds with what’s going to determine the outcome. “Here’s what I’ll be paying close attention to.” We’ll tell and introduce the teams accordingly and we’ll make sure that the casual audience is served, but we also want to serve the hard cores. We’re probably going two or three layers deeper than your traditional national media. That’s been our kind of goal, and I think there’s an appetite for that.
Our numbers are up some absurd amounts year-over-year. Our listening time and watch time on YouTube is awesome as far as how long people stay. So it’s working. We’ve just got to keep building it and and trying to do everything we can to to make sure it’s quality.
It’s quality programming. That’s what we aim to do. There’s no low-hanging fruit. There’s no hot takes. We want to celebrate the sport, because we feel like a lot of people kind of cover the sport in a negative light. So we kind of want to always find the silver lining. Are there times that were critical? Of course. But we also try to give you the reason that this could turn around. We try to tie up our arguments with those with those aspects too.
DR: Most people, when they think of you on TV, probably know you as a game analyst. How much of that role can inform the podcast, whether it’s just having seen these teams or having had the in-person conversations? From from the outside looking in, it does seem like a “one hand feeds the other” situation.
GM: Oh, sure. Watching the game on television is awesome and it’s gotten so much better. I love it. I watch everything I can. I really do. I love the sport and I really care about it and I really want what’s best for it. I’m watching the Tuesday night Conference USA matchups with the same level of intensity and interest as I’m watching Michigan and Penn State. It’s probably more of an obsession than it is a fandom, but I digress.
It does help you, and I think it can give you access that enhances your credibility. It’s beneficial to have relationships with the coaches, not just so they can come on as a guest down the road, but because you might have more access because you have off-the-record conversations for about an hour. For instance, last week I sat down with [Miami coach] Mario Cristobal and [Florida State coach] Mike Norvell. That’s really valuable and it helps your knowledge and understanding of what makes them tick and what maybe makes their teams tick.
One thing I have found, because of all the coming realignments and the assumption that the television networks are at the root of it, which I don’t agree with, is that everything I say is part of that agenda. Every school is doing what’s best for them. I think it’s a good conspiracy. I like that conspiracy, too, but I don’t think they’re actively involved. I do think that there is a segment of the population though, that would probably like our podcast that won’t watch or listen because of my affiliation with ESPN or because I played at Alabama. The only reason we’ve ever had people get upset about the podcast is because they call me a Bama homer or they think I’m a mouthpiece on behalf of the SEC. It couldn’t be further from the truth, but you’ve got to give it a chance to see that that’s not the case. Some people just aren’t willing to do that.
DR: You and I are both Alabama graduates. I’m sure it does not come as a surprise to you that I have plenty of people that I went to college with that think you’re lined up against Alabama when you do one of their games too.
GM: Yeah, of course. If there’s one thing that benefits us as Alabama guys, it’s Alabama losing. That always helps. We need Alabama to be as mediocre as it gets because that’s good for our careers.
That’s absurd. I have two sons. They have Bama jerseys they wear to school on Friday. I love the Tide, but I’m also going to call it how I see it. That’s the way I operate. If Bama is deserving of praise they’ll get praise and if they’re deserving of criticism, they’ll get criticism. It’s as simple as that. I treat them just like I treat everybody else when I go in front of the camera or the microphone.
DR: How do you differentiate the podcast from your radio show? For people outside of Birmingham or with no familiarity, you and Cole Cubelic do a very football-heavy show that goes real deep on the sport. There has to be a lot of crossover for what works on that show and what works on podcast.
GM: Oh yeah. There’s a lot. There are definitely some similarities. I’m a better broadcaster because I spend 15 hours a week with Cole. He just sees a game differently than I do.
Radio, to me, is a terrific platform because you have time. I mean, that’s that’s the best thing about radio is Cole and I have three hours to just bounce things off of each other and I get to see what makes him tick about a specific match-up because I didn’t play the position that he played. He is an expert on the line of scrimmage in particular. I can hold my own in those conversations, but I always like to get a different perspective. So I think that’s been really, really valuable.
The show on JOX is really what I love doing. It’s a great platform, but it’s really more SEC-centric just given where we’re at. I have great interest in what’s going on outside of the footprint. We do cover those nationally important games on JOX, but we really stay in the SEC on that show.
We’re a little bit more national on the podcast platform and that’s been beneficial. The podcast was something that I had been dreaming up and thinking of for years. Finding the right partner was of the utmost importance. We had been approached to do a podcast for years. SiriusXM wanted me to do one on NFL quarterbacks, which I did and didn’t love it because I don’t cover the NFL. My credibility is in college.
We had been pitched to do a podcast with multiple other platforms in the past. It was really more exploratory for a long time, and then Omaha came to us with ESPN backing and ESPN saying, “Hey, this would be advantageous.” Originally I was like, “That’s a lot of work. I’m already doing radio five days a week. I’m doing studio TV. I’m calling games. I don’t know if I can do more.”
But just knowing the partners, I knew it was going to be successful because Peyton Manning has never failed at anything and I can’t imagine he’s going to start now at ESPN with the strongest sports distribution platform that there is. So really, the podcast would have never materialized if not for the partners that that were involved.
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Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
