Bad blood between Jets-Giants is radio-active

Bad blood between Jets-Giants is radio-active

Corey Sipkin/New York Daily News

NY Giants quarterback Eli Manning won't be returning to ESPN-1050 but will instead have a regular gig on WFAN.

In early March, Eli Manning hosted an Evening With Eli, at the New York Athletic Club in conjunction with ESPN-1050. For eight years, the Giants two-time Super Bowl MVP participated in a weekly segmen t on the radio station.

At the dinner, both Manning and ESPN-1050 suits prominently announced they would happily extend their relationship for several more years. Two weeks later, according to radio and NFL sources, the relationship between Manning and ESPN-1050 was over.

ESPN-1050 was informed Manning would not be coming back as a regular on The Michael Kay Show. Instead, he was heading to WFAN, the Giants flagship radio station.

By all accounts, Manning did not make this decision on his own. He enjoyed doing his weekly spot and was compensated well. Money was not the issue. Manning also had no problem with the fact 1050 is the radio home of the Jets.

And during his 1050 tenure, no one at WFAN tried to lure him to the station.

Why did the situation change? Who put the kibosh on Manning continuing his relationship with 1050?

All paths lead to the increased flow of bad blood between the Jets and Giants. It finally occurred to Gi ants brass that having the face of their franchise as a featured voice on the radio home of the Jets was a terrible idea.

Although the Giants walked away from last season on top of the football world, management is still angered over Jet brass covering those Giants Super Bowl logos with curtains in MetLife Stadium before Jets hosted the Giants on Christmas Eve. They also havent forgotten how Gang Green put a picture of Manning being crushed from behind by Calvin Pace on the cover of their defensive playbook heading into that game.

More than all that, I believe (Giants co-owner) John Mara was not exactly thrilled over Eli being on the Jets station throughout the Giants Super Bowl year, the NFL source said.

The radio whereabouts of Giants players is likely not on Maras radar, but we could see how the Manning-1050 alliance eventually stuck in his craw. And if he did ask Manning to make the radio switch, whats Eli going to say, No? Giants ownership has ma de their QB one of the NFLs highest-paid players.

Nonetheless, the bad blood thing is still in play. After Manning jumped ship, ESPN-1050 tried to negotiate a deal with Victor Cruz. A source close to Cruz said he was told Giants players were now prohibited from being paid regulars on a non-Giants station.

Dont discount WFAN, tired of the buzz and ratings ESPN-1050 was generating with the QB (remember Kays elite Eli interview), trying to exert whatever pressure it could to bring in Manning.