Even more details have emerged about Troy Aikman and Joe Buck's fight before Monday Night Football (MNF) a couple of weeks ago, including that the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback got into it with the chairman of ESPN.

The Athletic reports that before Aikman and Buck's blow-up argument, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback “had a tense one-hour chat” with Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN's chairman.

They reportedly discussed Aikman's strained relationship with Buck and their future as a duo. The former quarterback was frustrated with Buck, who signed a five-year contract extension with the network. Pitaro put all his cards on the table, asking him, “Could you still work with Joe?”

Aikman claimed that he could, but this was still a prelude to his fight with Buck. The Athletic believes “it is clear ESPN has taken Buck's side in the pending divorce.”

The tension has been building for years. Sources told The Athletic that there was “off-air unease” for the first five weeks of the year. It might have boiled over after Buck signed his new deal.

Buck reportedly believes that Aikman made “situations untenable for the production staff” (Monday Night Football has been through five producers and directors since their arrival four years ago) by “barking orders for replays he desired.” However, Aikman believes Buck is “a master of manipulating to get what he wants.”

The fight before the Monday Night Football game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills started with Buck confronting Aikman, asking, ‘You are not going to f**king talk to me?”

Apparently, Aikman felt like Buck initiated the fight “to force a public backlash to appear as the good guy.” During the argument, Buck twisted the knife by saying, “I'm not the reason you don't have a contract.”

The Cowboys legend reportedly believes Buck is the reason for the producer and director turnover during their time at ESPN, and he felt he was next.

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He said, “I just never thought you'd do it to me,” in response to Buck's remark. This prompted the NFL and MLB announcer to say, “They got rid of them because you were screaming at them.”

While Buck got his extension first, ESPN was interested in bringing Aikman back. His team reportedly used Tom Brady's $37.5 million salary at FOX as a benchmark. They were negotiating a $30 million salary for Aikman. ESPN then said it would be pausing negotiations until after the Super Bowl. Still, his team said he'd return for a similar 18% pay bump like Buck's deal, but ESPN declined.

We'll see what happens. Aikman appears ready to leave the network. When asked about it, he didn't go into details but said he'll “be a free agent at the end of the year” and was open to seeing what other opportunities arise.