Could Joe Buck and Troy Aikman be headed for a split at ESPN?
Could one of sports broadcasting’s pairings be headed for a breakup?
If recent reports are to be believed, the partnership between Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on ESPN’s Monday Night Football could just be nearing its end.
The pair took over coverage of Monday Night Football for the 2022 NFL season, and have been the lead broadcast team on the network since that opening night. But according to a report from Front Office Sports, tension between the pair recently hit something of a fever pitch, in the hours leading up to last Monday night’s game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills.
Part of that tension could be due to Aikman being on the cusp of free agency for next season. While the network reached a new six-year deal with Buck in September, one that will keep the play-by-play announcer in place through ESPN’s next Super Bowl, Aikman remains without a contract for next year and beyond.
According to Front Office Sports:
On Monday night, before the Rams took on the Bills at SoFi Stadium, the site of this season’s Super Bowl, Buck “broke the ice” on this unspoken tension, and he and Aikman had an argument, a source said. It ultimately de-escalated, and the two had a broadcast in which viewers never would have been able to decipher that something was amiss.
Adding to the tension could be this bit of news from Thursday morning, as Aikman was asked about the situation during a radio spot in Dallas. Here is what Aikman said on 96.7 The Ticket:
“There’s probably a time and a place for all that. I don’t know if now is the time. 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.”
This all comes at something of a fascinating time in the NFL broadcasting world. Tony Romo’s departure from CBS Sports may have opened up a spot alongside Jim Nantz on that network’s top broadcast pairing, although J.J. Watt has filled in rather well following Romo’s exit. Over at FOX Sports, Greg Olsen is in the final year of his deal, and according to industry insider Richard Deitsch, the two sides have not engaged in contract negotiations as of yet:
Could Aikman become another free agent in the broadcasting world after this season?
There is also the idea that Aikman could make the move to a front office. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback serves in an advisory capacity with the Miami Dolphins, and helped with the team’s recent general manager search. Perhaps the former quarterback is looking at a future inside a team, rather than inside the booth.