Tension has developed between longtime broadcast partners Joe Buck and Troy Aikman over Aikman’s contract situation with ESPN.
Front Office Sports reported Wednesday that Buck “broke the ice” on the topic with Aikman on Monday before ESPN’s broadcast of Rams-Bills, and an argument began that ultimately de-escalated. Aikman has not yet received a formal offer for an extension with the network.
The two went on to broadcast the overtime barn-burner as though nothing was amiss.
The Athletic reported in September that Buck agreed to a six-year extension with ESPN worth around $108 million to keep him as the play-by-play voice of “Monday Night Football” for the foreseeable future. The deal signifies that Buck will be on the call for the network’s second Super Bowl in 2013 after handling its first in February 2027.
Aikman is currently on a five-year, $90 million deal that will expire after February’s Super Bowl. Buck and Aikman have shared the booth for 25 years, the longest-running pairing in NFL history.
ESPN signed Buck and Aikman to five-year deals during the 2022 offseason, ending their tenures at Fox. In those negotiations, Aikman was the first to agree to a deal before Fox agreed to let Buck out of the last year of his contract.
The ongoing saga with Aikman and ESPN comes as the CBS booth remains unconfirmed for next season, with the network parting ways with Tony Romo in early October after his July drunk driving arrest and J.J. Watt taking his place for the time being alongside Jim Nantz.
Fox’s Greg Olsen is also a looming free agent, and Amazon Prime’s Kirk Herbstreit just signed a new deal to continue on “Thursday Night Football,” but with an out for the streaming platform if it can lure a target like Sean McVay.
