These days, two-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame finalist Eli Manning is just as comfortable celebrating from the sidelines as he was throwing a miracle pass to David Tyree in 2008. He spends his time focused on family, teamed up with brother Peyton for their weekly Monday Night Football Manningcast, and embracing new opportunities off the field. On a recent weekend, that looked like celebrating his 44th birthday over breakfast with his 9-year-old daughter’s hockey team. “I've never been on skates before, so I can't really offer much (advice)”, he laughs.
Despite leaving the locker room, Manning hasn’t stepped away from the game. Whether it’s supporting his nephew Arch as he finds his stride at Texas or gearing up for Super Bowl weekend in his hometown of New Orleans, Manning remains a fixture in football. This year, he’s partnering with Verizon to help bring the Super Bowl experience to fans across the country.
Verizon's inaugural Super Bowl FanFest is a nationwide celebration that’s bringing the excitement of Super Bowl LIX to fans in all 30 NFL cities. From on-field experiences to meet-and-greets with NFL legends, the FanFest offers football enthusiasts a unique way to celebrate. Manning, as one of the event's ambassadors, shared his thoughts on the importance of making these moments available to fans across the country.
The FanFest, which will feature everything from local cuisine to interactive games and meet-and-greets with NFL legends, is an embodiment of the communal spirit of the Super Bowl. “It’s become like a national holiday,” he said, emphasizing how FanFest allows fans to enjoy the game in iconic venues, surrounded by family, friends, and fellow community members. Manning highlighted how Verizon’s innovative approach combines national energy with local flair, bringing NFL legends, regional artists, and small businesses together in a one-of-a-kind celebration. Verizon customers can claim their tickets on a first-come, first-served basis at VerizonFanFest.com.
In our conversation, Manning reflected on his Hall of Fame nomination, his thoughts on this year’s MVP candidates, and what makes this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans particularly special. Spoiler alert: It might be a home-cooked breakfast from his mom.
The interview, lightly edited for clarity, is below.
Happy belated birthday! I saw you celebrated by having breakfast with your daughter's hockey team. As a professional athlete, do you offer them any advice?
Thank you–Oh no. For 9-year-old hockey players, I don't know if I have a whole lot of advice. I've never been on skates before, so I can't really offer much in the hockey sense. I think at this age it’s really all about enjoying your teammates, enjoying the process, the games, the competition, just try to get a little bit better each day.
If we're at a hockey tournament somewhere, I think sometimes they enjoy the team dinners or the team outing to the bowling alley, sometimes more than the actual hockey game, which I think is probably the right attitude for a 9-year-old at this time. We had a lot of fun. I just enjoy my kids getting involved in sports and just them having fun with their teammates.
So we're here chatting today because you're an ambassador for Verizon's inaugural Super Bowl fan fest. As someone who's played in, and won, the big game twice, what's special about bringing that experience to local markets?
Well, I think it's a great idea by Verizon, just like you said, bringing that Super Bowl experience to all 30 NFL cities across the country. And even though it's a national party and going on all over the country, they make it very local by bringing in the local restaurants and local cuisine, local artists to play the music, and the local NFL Legends that played in that city.
Letting the fans go to the stadium, go on the field maybe, to be at an iconic local venue to watch the Super Bowl is just a wonderful idea because as we know, the Super Bowl has become almost like a national holiday here. And it's all about, Hey, where are you going to watch a game? What are you doing? What's the party? Where's the celebration?
Whether your team's in it or you're just there to watch the game, now you have this opportunity that Verizon is supplying to its customers for free to get to go to these stadiums and watch the game with your friends, with your family, with other people from your community. It’ll just be a great experience.
I think what's really cool about it is that customers can claim tickets for free, which really democratizes access to a celebration that's widely recognized for being outrageously expensive.
Will you be popping up at one of the FanFests?
Well, I'll be in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, which is my hometown. And so I'll be doing some stuff with Verizon onsite in the Super Bowl and join the game there. So I'll have to miss out. But I got a lot of my former teammates and Tiki Barber will be in New York at MetLife Stadium. Patrick Willis, who I played college football with, will be representing San Francisco. Jason Witten, who's a great buddy, will be in Dallas. So a lot of my former NFL colleagues and friends will be representing and holding down the fort at the stadiums with the fans, signing autographs and taking pictures.
And like you said, if you're a Verizon customer, you can go to verizonfanfest.com, sign up, get your free tickets, bring your friends, bring your family, and create this awesome experience.
What do you think is going to be special about celebrating this Super Bowl in your hometown?
Well, I think for me–I'm always probably a little biased–but I think New Orleans is the greatest Super Bowl site just because you have such local traditions there, great food, great hotels, great hospitality, everything's walking distance. The weather's going to be outstanding.
And the best part: I get to actually stay with my parents. I don't even need a hotel. My mom's going to be making me breakfast every morning. I'll be there with my wife, with some of my kids, my brothers will be there; it's almost like a family reunion for me.
So I'll get to enjoy New Orleans, enjoy all the festivities that it has to offer, and also just be there for the big game and know how exciting it is for those fans and those teams that will be in the Super Bowl.
Incredible. There's truly nothing better than your mom making you breakfast–it’s an unmatched feeling.
So huge congratulations are in order because you are a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist in your first year of eligibility. What does that mean to you? Do you think about legacy much these days?
Well, I think it's just an honor to be included in the same breath, in the same sentence, as some of the other finalists for the Hall of Fame or the people that are already in the Hall of Fame. There's nothing I can really do, I can't help my campaign anymore; I can't go play another game or help the team get a win or throw any more touchdowns, so I can just sit back, enjoy the moment, and just hope that my name is called Super Bowl Weekend to join that great group of people who have impacted the game of football.
I know it would mean the world to me just because of how important football has been to my life from early childhood to even today, post-retirement from the game. I’m still very involved and love everything that football represents.
On the note of Super Bowl weekend, the MVP conversation is heating up. As we head into the playoffs, do you have any predictions for who's going to take home the season MVP?
I mean, it's a tough one, and some great players, great individual efforts. Lamar Jackson has had an unbelievable season and they're playing about as good as anybody at this moment. And just his way of creating plays, keeping his team in the games, taking over games when he needs to. Josh Allen has been in the mix as well and kind of the same–his ability to create plays and will his team. He can run it, he can throw it, do whatever it takes. And Jared Goff, Saquon Barkley, my former teammate–a lot of worthy candidates.
All those teams, most importantly, are in the playoffs, and I know their mindset is more about winning playoff games, getting to the Super Bowl– trying to bring home a championship to their organization is the most important thing. But to catch an MVP on the way to that wouldn't be too bad, either.
For sure. Did you get a chance to check out the recent Coach podcast episode where Bill Belichick shared some high praise for you?
I did not get to catch it. I kind of saw it written and some news, but I appreciate the kind words from Coach Belichick. It was great to get to work with him this year on the Manning cast, and he's obviously one of the great coaches of all time, if not the best coach of all time, and excited for him on his next venture. But it was awfully nice of him to speak nicely of me, especially since I stole a couple Super Bowls from him.
Incredible. And then last question from me, your nephew Arch is doing his thing at Texas. Who do you think gives him better advice? You, Eli, or your dad?
My dad. I bet my dad gives him the most advice, whether he uses that or whether it's still relevant 50 years after my dad played college football, I'm not sure.
Peyton and I, I know are always there for him. We want to be a resource for him if he has any questions about football, X's and Os, defenses, about just kind of dealing with the spotlight that now he's in a little bit, just handling everything. We try to just be there and help him out, but we're not texting him every day, telling him he should be doing certain things. He's got to figure this out for himself. He's got to listen to his coaches, be a great teammate. And I think he's doing those things.
He's enjoying the college experience and I’m just excited for him, excited for Texas and how well they're playing right now, and will be rooting for him this week in the semi-final games.