Is Peyton Manning About To Become a Polarizing Figure?

Sign of the times if it happens

ESPN+ has made a great move to try to get subscribers.

It’s “Peyton’s Place,” which debuted on the subscription network today with a documentary on Joe Namath.

So while ESPN+ has tons of content, it generally is something of a niche. A random major league baseball game. Major League Soccer.

Hear about the Little League softball team from Gray, Tennessee that went to the Southeast Regionals? You could have watched their games on ESPN+.

But nobody from Helena, Montana, let alone New York City, is going to watch Little League softball between Gray and Barboursville, West Virginia.

That’s where “Peyton’s Place” comes in. Even the 30 for 30 documentaries preserved on the network have become something of a niche.

A documentary on the Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest? We’ll pass.

But Peyton’s Place isn’t just the history of the NFL, which everyone likes; it’s Peyton Manning, who everyone likes.

Manning is humorous, a rare quality in an athlete but one that continues to make Terry Bradshaw marketable 36 years after he threw his last pass. He also is the perfect host for such a series because not only does Manning come from a football family with some history of their own, but he’s enough of a historian that he can recognize Bristol’s Beattie Feathers (pro football’s leading rusher in 1934) in a…