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Troy Aikman's Future Uncertain as ESPN Contract Expires
Confirmed
In Short: Troy Aikman, the Dallas Cowboys legend and ESPN Monday Night Football analyst, has confirmed he will be a free agent at the end of the season, leaving his future with the network uncertain.
Troy Aikman, the Dallas Cowboys legend and ESPN Monday Night Football analyst, has confirmed he will be a free agent at the end of the season, leaving his future with the network uncertain.
Aikman told 96.7 The Ticket in Dallas that he will broadcast through the current season and then see what happens, indicating that his contract with ESPN, signed in 2022, is set to expire.
Meanwhile, speculation has grown about potential changes to the Monday Night Football broadcast team. Joe Buck, Aikman's longtime partner, recently signed a six-year, $108 million extension with ESPN.
Pat McAfee, a popular ESPN personality, has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Aikman. However, McAfee denied any such discussions during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
Aikman's decision to remain silent on the reported tension during a radio appearance in Dallas has fueled speculation about his future with ESPN.
ESPN has announced that McAfee will lead Monday Night Football alt-casts this season, further adding to the speculation about potential changes to the broadcast team.
Aikman's contract expiration and the network's decision to extend Buck's deal have raised questions about whether the long-standing partnership between Buck and Aikman will continue beyond this season.
What this adds
ESPN's decision to extend Buck's contract while Aikman remains unsigned adds to the speculation about the future of the broadcast team.
What's confirmed
- The Dallas Cowboys legend told 96.7 The Ticket in Dallas (via Joseph Hoyt of the Dallas Morning News ) he will be a free agent at the end of the season: "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."
- Aikman is in the final season of his original contract with ESPN that was signed in 2022.
- 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.
What's still developing
- The move maintained his partnership with Buck that began in 2002 when they both worked for Fox Sports.
- The speculation about McAfee began on Monday when Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports wrote a column suggesting that ESPN's planned Super Bowl 61 alt-cast led by McAfee could be a tryout for him to replace Aikman in the booth next season.
- "I don't know if it's hard to figure out kind of what's happened." Aikman was asked specifically whether a report of tension between him and Buck prior to Monday night's game between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams is true.
- ESPN announcer Troy Aikman before a game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/USA TODAY Sports) "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," Aikman said.
- The bright, articulate analyst who breaks down plays immediately after they happen didn't tear down a report by Front Office Sports that he and Buck had an argument before they worked the game together.
- Could one of sports broadcasting’s pairings be headed for a breakup?
- 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?
- Part of that tension could be due to Aikman being on the cusp of free agency for next season.
- Joe Buck and Troy Aikman’s time calling NFL games together seems to be coming to an end.
- After last month’s news that Buck had agreed to a whopping six-year, $100-plus-million contract extension with ESPN—while Aikman has yet to receive a similar offer— Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel reported this week that there has been “unspoken friction” between the two this season as they get set to call Super Bowl LXI in February.
- “I think there’s probably a time and a place for all that to be discussed,” said the three-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame quarterback.
- “This is what Troy Aikman — and ESPN has the Super Bowl this year — this is what Troy Aikman said,” Le Batard revealed on The Dan Le Batard Show : ‘(Andy) Reid understands as much as anyone in football that they’ve gotta run the football’ ‘Pat Bryant had as good a camp as anyone in football’ ‘Denver has as deep a wide receiver room as anyone in football’ ‘Denver has as good a secondary as there is in all of football’ ‘Trent McDuffie is as good as anyone in all of football.’ Aikman didn’t slow down as the game progressed.