Just over a year ago, I asked if Eli Manning's "Chad Powers" character could be the next Ted Lasso. Answer: Yes.
Hulu is green-lighting a new half-hour comedy series based around the quarterback character created by Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions for ESPN+. Better for Omaha's scripted ambitions, one of Hollywood's hottest names is leading the project.
Top Gun actor Glenn Powell: Maverick to replace Eli Manning. He is co-creating and co-producing with Loki creator Michael Waldron. Here's the elevator pitch for the comedy: When bad behavior derails QB Russ Holliday's college career, he disguises himself and walks into a struggling Southern football team as the talented, affable Chad Strength.
Powell and Waldron even quoted some of the fictional character's lines in a statement to the Hollywood trade: "We're both die-hard college football fans. When we saw Eli as Chad Shakti, we knew this was the path to a big, fun story in this world. We're part of this team. Excited to be and can't wait to get Chad in the game. 'Think fast, run fast.'
I'm told Omaha fielded offers from multiple Hollywood studios before joining forces with Powell, star of the upcoming Twisters remake, who appeared on the Omaha-produced Pat McAfee megacast in Texas-Oklahoma in October. He and Waldron were both looking for a football project. When they met Omaha's scripted team led by Ben Brown, the partnership took off. No date has been set for the premiere.
This is the latest example of art imitating life in sports media. More than a decade ago, Jason Sudeikis' character Ted Lasso first appeared in mock-style commercials promoting NBC Sports' coverage of the Premier League. The actor's commercials, in which an American football coach plays a fish out of water trying to coach soccer, were so funny that Apple TV+ created an entire show around the character, which has aired three seasons so far.
Similarly, NFL Films' Tim Rumpf and Steve Menzel created the original Chad Power character for the Omaha Alley's Place series on ESPN+. Their sketch shows an undercover Manning trying to get on the Penn State football team. After debuting on September 21, 2022, it quickly went viral and has now amassed over 15 million views on YouTube. It could be the biggest hit yet for Omaha and NFL Films' ESPN+'s Place franchise, which now includes Peyton and series featuring Eli Manning, Sue Bird, David Ortiz, John McEnroe, Ronda Rousey, Vince Carter and Abby Wambach.
While Powell was taking over, Eli Manning was involved behind the scenes. I hear he sat in on the pitch process to Hulu–and also gave pointers on football parts of the pilot script.
Ernest Lupinacci, a former Nike copywriter turned screenwriter, says Hollywood loves underdog sports stories like Chad Powers, Ted Lasso or Sylvester Stallone's Rocky. Throw in the college football connection [Powell and Waldron root for, respectively, the Texas Longhorns and Georgia Bulldogs], and he wasn't surprised to sign up two big Hollywood names.
“Why would [Powell] want to play a broken football player? Gee, I don't know, the Super Bowl only drew 123 million viewers," Lupinacci told Front Office Sports. "He's going to play Mr. Irrelevant."
Omaha's three-year-old claim to fame is still Peyton and Eli Manning's popular Manningcast on Monday Night Football. But the fast-growing production company has its eye on more scripted projects. It has teamed up with Amazon Prime Video to produce a documentary and scripted film about longshot Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike. It also has projects with Netflix, NBC and The CW Network. And I've heard that clothing's bread and butter revenue comes from creating ads for Fortune 500 advertisers.
In 2023, Peyton Manning took a minority investment from Peter Chernin's North Road Company, valuing his company at $400 million. Put it together, and Omaha is on the fast track to becoming a billion-dollar media company, according to Bloomberg.
"I hope Glenn is working on his QB skills," joked Eli Manning on X [formerly known as Twitter] on Thursday. “I saw him throw a football to Mavery. … He's got some work to do!!”
