Troy Aikman expects this will be his farewell ESPN tour.
The pending free agent, who said he has yet to have extension talks with the Worldwide Leader, doubled down Thursday on how he believes the company is moving on from him after this season.
“It just seems to be where they’re going — that they’re gonna go in a different direction because there’s been no talks, no contract negotiations,” Aikman told Jimmy Traina.
“We’re in a Super Bowl year. The Super Bowl is Feb. 14. My contract ends in March. It just doesn’t seem logical that if they were gonna keep me, something wouldn’t be in place before that.”
Aikman and partner Joe Buck are the longest-tenured NFL broadcast pairing in history at 25 years and it seems that Super Bowl 2027 will be their final game together.
While ESPN extended Buck for six years and approximately $108 million, ESPN did not take the same approach with Aikman and it’s created a tenuous situation.
The pair reportedly got into an argument before Monday’s Bills-Rams game after Buck “broke the ice,” per Front Office Sports, and Aikman then did a pair of interviews about the situation Thursday.
In his first comments about the situation to 96.7 The Ticket, he referred to a future employer.
“There’s probably a time and a place for all that. I don’t know if now is the time,” the former star Cowboys quarterback told the Dallas radio station, as transcribed by the Dallas Morning News. “I don’t know if it’s hard to figure out kind of what happened. I’ll broadcast through this season and I’ll be a free agent at the end of the year and kind of see what happens. I’m looking forward to whatever the rest of this season does hold and the Super Bowl and all that and where my next landing spot may be.”
Traina followed up with Aikman later in the day, eliciting the above comment, and also asked him about whether it will be difficult to continue working with an employer he believes plans to move on from him.
“The rest of the season will be fine. Excited about it. Looking forward to it,” Traina said. “It’s awesome that we got the Super Bowl. Not a problem at all.”
The Athletic previously reported that ESPN is planning to talk a new contract with Aikman after the Super Bowl, although it raises the question of why the company took a different approach with Buck.
Aikman’s comments certainly add another layer to the situation, especially since he’s already making comments about how he believes he will be gone soon.
He and Buck will be back behind a microphone next Monday in Santa Clara, Calif. when the undefeated 49ers host the “Oh, I guess we should have spiked the ball” Commanders.
