Here is the most useful fact about the Troy Aikman and Joe Buck situation. ESPN has been asked about it twice, by Front Office Sports on Oct. 14 and by Us Weekly on Oct. 22, and declined to comment both times. Buck has said nothing. Aikman has said nothing that denies any of it. Neither has CAA, the agency that represents them both.
Ten days of escalating reporting, and not one denial from anybody with a reason to issue one.
What Was Reported, and by Whom
Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported on Sept. 16 that Buck had signed a six-year ESPN extension, put at $108 million. ESPN has not confirmed the figure, and spokesman Josh Krulewitz said the company would not address talent contracts publicly before the Super Bowl.
Dylan Byers of Puck reported on Oct. 21 that the deal was actually agreed in May and then, as one source phrased it, “put in a drawer.” Aikman was not told by Buck, by ESPN or by CAA, Byers reported, and ESPN had raised with Buck’s side the possibility of continuing without Aikman. Buck accepted almost immediately.
Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel had reported on Oct. 14 that the two argued in the booth at SoFi Stadium before the Oct. 12 Bills-Rams game, a 37-34 Buffalo overtime win. Byers’s account has Buck opening with “Dude, are we really going to do this?” and Aikman answering with four words amounting to an accusation that Buck had screwed him over. Mike Florio printed them at Pro Football Talk.
One claim needs its own warning label. The line about the pair nearly coming to blows traces to In Touch Weekly on Oct. 19, resting on a single anonymous source in a gossip publication. Awful Announcing said plainly that it should be viewed skeptically. It is not Puck’s reporting and should not be credited to it.
The Contract Math Explains All of It
Aikman’s deal, reported at five years and $90 million, expires in March. He has confirmed the timing himself. “I’ll broadcast through this season and I’ll be a free agent at the end of the year,” he told Dallas station KTCK on Oct. 15.
A representative reportedly floated roughly $30 million a year. Talks stalled. Front Office Sports reports Aikman has not received a formal offer at all.
His current rate of about $18 million was set when Tony Romo’s $17 million was the ceiling for an NFL analyst. Fox then handed Tom Brady, the man who replaced Aikman there, $38 million a year. Aikman asked to be paid where the market had moved. ESPN went silent.
Twenty-Five Seasons
Buck and Aikman were first paired at Fox in 2002. They worked 20 seasons there, moved to ESPN together in 2022, and in November 2023 passed Pat Summerall and John Madden as the longest-tenured broadcast crew in NFL history. Aikman committed to ESPN first, and Buck has said he begged out of his remaining Fox years to follow him.
Byers reported that Buck apologized to Aikman and the production crew around the Oct. 19 broadcast in Santa Clara: “We’re all adults, we’ve all got jobs to do, let’s move forward, let’s have a great year.” Aikman reportedly did not respond. Neither man addressed any of it on air that night.
Barkley Picked the Wrong Side
Charles Barkley, on Philadelphia’s 97.5 The Fanatic on Oct. 21, went after Aikman. “I’m very disappointed in Troy Aikman, honestly,” he said. “It’s not Joe Buck’s job to get him a deal. But why are you mad? They gave Joe a deal. He ain’t negotiating the contract.”
Barkley is right that Buck does not run ESPN’s payroll. He has the grievance wrong. Nobody has reported that Aikman resents Buck getting paid. What has been reported is that Buck knew for four months that ESPN was weighing a booth without Aikman in it, and said nothing to the man sitting beside him every Monday.
They are scheduled together for Cowboys at Eagles on Monday night. SoFi Stadium, where this started, hosts the Super Bowl on Feb. 14. Aikman’s contract runs out in March.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
