In September 2020, sports media executives Jamie Horowitz and Josh Pyatt boarded a plane from Los Angeles to Denver with a very specific goal. They wanted to ask former NFL quarterback and Hall of Famer Peyton Manning to launch his own media production company.

Jamie Horowitz, former VP at ESPN and president at Fox Sports, is responsible for developing some of the most popular sports programs today, including Undisputed, First Take, and SportsNation. He had played an instrumental role in the rise of sports media personalities Colin Cowherd, Stephen A Smith, and Shannon Sharpe. Pyatt had been the agent that helped LeBron James and Kobe Bryant build their massive media companies. 

Horowitz believed that Manning had a point of view on the world that sounded like a company’s mission statement – Manning wanted to uplift and unify people (that did end up the mission statement and is on the website).

Horowitz and Pyatt were some of the more successful players in sports media, yet Manning wasn’t convinced at first. He had dedicated his life to being the best football player he could be. He didn’t know anything about running a production company.

“From what everyone had told me, he wasn’t interested,” said Pyatt.

But “everyone” didn’t deter Pyatt and Horowitz.

Manning did his research and eventually decided to try his hand at leading a media company. And to the surprise of basically no one, in a matter of months, the new company, named Omaha Productions after Manning’s famed audible call, had become one of the world’s fastest-growing media properties.

In its first 3 years, the programming developed by Omaha Productions has represented a departure from traditional sports media. Instead of men in suits discussing stats in fancy studios, Omaha makes more casual television. Shows like ManningCast feature Peyton and Eli mostly in quarterzips and they broadcast from a garage and a basement. Omaha’s most successful show on Netflix – Quarterback – documents NFL star players on the gridiron but also playing with their kids and taking out the trash. Omaha Productions content seems to work particularly well for a new generation – the average viewer of ManningCast is six years younger than the average Monday Night Football viewer (Netflix wouldnt disclose the demographics on Quarterback).

The unscripted and unfiltered style of Omaha programming seems to have been inspired by shows that Jamie Horowitz has been developing on NBC, ESPN, FOX, and DAZN for over 20 years. Horowitz is credited with reimagining sports TV in the 2000s by producing shows that feature big personalities and spirited talk — a style of programming that’s become the norm on TV today. Horowitz has guided Omaha to make shows where the on-camera talent is the key to the show and often the executive producer.

Earlier this year, Horowitz and Manning added a 3rd partner to Omaha when Peter Chernin’s North Road company invested in Omaha. Chernin has had a magic touch with a variety of media companies and connected quickly with Manning and Horowitz. The partnership was intended to supercharge the growth of Omaha and drive more scripted content deals.

In his recent newsletter Huddle Up, sports business expert Joe Pompliano recognized how Omaha Productions was shifting viewer trends and predicted that it could soon become a dominant player in sports media.

“I don’t see any reason why Omaha can’t be a $1 billion-plus company,” Pompliano wrote. “Streaming services are acquiring unscripted sports content at a premium and Omaha’s close relationship with ESPN provides them with a unique advantage.”

The combination of Manning and Horowitz, guided by the leadership of Pyatt, and the partnership of Peter Chernin makes us believe that Omaha Productions’ meteoric rise is only the beginning for the brand — and that a $1 billion valuation may be around the corner.