When Eli Manning finally hung up his cleats, Giants owner John Mara couldn’t help but rewind to a moment burned into his memory. It was the final game of Eli’s rookie season, and the kid had just marched the Giants down the field in the dying seconds to steal a win from Dallas. Mara’s father, after attending the final game of his life, beaming as they walked to the locker room, leaned over and said, “I think we found our guy.” Sixteen seasons, two Super Bowls, and a lifetime of memories later, he couldn’t have been more right.

“I’ll miss standing in the shadows, staring out into the field before a game surrounded by my teammates and knowing all the hard work we’ve put in,” Eli said in his retirement speech. “I’ll miss hearing the first roar of the crowd, triggering the knowledge that we had been given one more opportunity to go win a football game.” You could sense the love, admiration, and joy he experienced being a Giant for almost a couple of decades. So, when he got the opportunity to buy a slice of his former NFL team, Eli expressed his desire to become a part of the franchise he absolutely dominated for.

“It’s definitely something of interest… There’s probably only one team I’d be interested in pursuing, and it’s the one I played for for 16 years, and it’s local, and makes the most sense,” he said a few months ago. The vision was palpable: Eli, still guiding the Giants, but this time not from under center, instead from the owner’s suite, charting the future of young talents. But as things unfolded, the NFL legend had to pull out of the Giants deal.

Eli Manning just walked away from the ownership bid of the New York team, stating that it’s too expensive for him. “Basically, it’s too expensive for me. These numbers are getting very big,” he told CNBC in an interview. “A 1% stake valued at $10 billion turns into a very big number.” The statement came as team valuations skyrocket. CNBC reported the Giants’ valuation at $7.85 billion, ranking fourth among the NFL teams.

Teams like the Eagles, on the other hand, sold a minority stake in the team at a valuation of $8.3 billion. That’s roughly over $1 billion higher than what was reported months earlier. San Francisco 49ers? Well, they sold a 6.2% stake at a valuation of more than $8.5 billion, per reports. Safe to say, when Eli admitted that buying a 10% stake in the Giants was too pricey, he wasn’t just tossing out a casual line—he meant every word.

Besides, Manning expressed his admiration for the Giants and believes that his former team is deserving of a $10 billion valuation. But deep down, he also shared the complications that contributed to his decision to pull out his name from the Giants’ deal. After hanging up his cleats, the two-time Super Bowl winner entered the broadcasting world. And the NFL legend pointed out that acquiring a 10% stake in the Giants could have resulted in a conflict of interest with his role on ESPN’s ManningCast, the alternative Monday Night Football broadcast that he co-hosts with his brother, Peyton Manning.

“It really is a matter of just some complications with the fact that I’m doing broadcasting. I wouldn’t be able to talk to players that I coached in the Pro Bowl,” Manning added. “…There’s going to be a lot of conflict and, you know, it was affecting my day job, so I kind of had to pull out of the Giants deal, but still obviously, I am here and have access and still very involved in the Giants organization.”

The Manning brothers turn ManningCast into a blend of football analysts, brotherly banter, and light comedy. Plus, the brothers even step in to coach during the Pro Bowl. Taken all together, the ownership would definitely have affected Eli’s day job. And just like that, it turned out to be heartbreaking news for the Giants’ fans.

Giants Fans Stunned as Eli Manning Backs Out of Ownership Bid

When John Mara’s father said, “We found our guy,” you could feel that sentiment still echoes among the Giants’ fans. When the news broke that Eli Manning is not buying a stake in the Giants, the whole thing showed just how much the Giants’ faithful still see Eli as their guy. He was never just the quarterback. He was the hope during chaos, the quiet leader who brought rings to New York. No wonder, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,”—the kind of deep, guttural heartbreak that only Giants fans can truly understand.

For a moment, it felt like Eli was stepping back into the fold, just in a different uniform: owner’s blazer instead of shoulder pads. His exit from the deal hit home harder than a week 17 loss. Others tried to make sense of it in classic 2025 fashion. “Price going up 🏈🏈🏈,” one fan wrote, because, of course, this is the NFL, where even nostalgia is worth billions. Another echoed what half the country probably thought: “Everything is too expensive.”

And really, who can blame them? When 1% of team costs more than cities’ budgets, it’s hard not to feel priced out—even if your name is Eli Manning. Then came the comedy—and the hope. One person joked, “okay eli i’m starting the gofundme now,” they wrote. Not the worst idea. If every Giants fan pitched a buck, they might actually make a dent. Hypothetically, of course. Another chimed in, “Bummer, would’ve been cool to see Eli back with the Giants. Maybe @GavinBrookswin could step in—he’s always talking about investing in sports teams.”

Eli may be out, but the crowd is still scouting owners as if it were free agency. But in a weird way, the whole thing reveals how interested Giants fans were in seeing Eli Manning as their team’s owner. Well, it’s not happening for the time being. What lies ahead in the future? That remains to be seen.