Eli Manning reportedly has decided that becoming a minority owner of the New York Giants is not for him. The long-time Giants signal-caller recently spoke about the decision to withdraw his bid, noting, "It’s too expensive for me, these numbers are getting really big,” Manning said. “A 1% stake valued at $10 billion turns into a very big number.”
Not only was the possible minority ownership becoming too rich for Manning's blood, but he also said that the role would conflict with what he described as his day job.
"I wouldn't be able to talk to the players, I coach in the Pro Bowl, I do a high school football camp where college guys come. There's gonna be a lot of conflict, and it was gonna affect my day job, so I kind of had to pull out of the Giants deal."
These comments made it hard for people not to think about Tom Brady, who is a minority owner of a team he didn't play for, the Las Vegas Raiders. Brady is one of the broadcasters on FOX's number one crew, but due to his role with the Raiders, he's limited in what he can do and see leading up to games each week.
Eli Manning takes unintentional shot at Tom Brady with recent comments
Manning probably wasn't trying to take any sort of jab at Brady with these comments. He probably is very much the kind of guy who enjoys what he's doing now that he's out of football and doesn't want to throw any sort of wrench into those plans.
The former Giants quarterback is also a part of the ManningCast, which he and his brother Peyton do during select "Monday Night Football" broadcasts. Those broadcasts would be heavily impacted if Manning joined the Giants as a minority owner as well.
Manning was the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft and, as most people probably know, he was then traded from the Chargers to the Giants, where he ended up spending the entirety of his 16-year career. Manning helped the Giants win two Super Bowls during his decorated career, with both of those victories, funny enough, coming over Brady's New England Patriots.
Manning has made a nice career for himself out of football, and even though he's not going to join the Giants ownership, he has invested in other New York sports teams, such as Gotham FC of the NWSL, proving that he's still very loyal to the city. He's just not ready to put his day job to the side just yet, and who can blame him?