Troy Aikman seems to believe that the bosses at FOX perhaps didn't appreciate the stability that he and Joe Buck provided in the No. 1 booth, and appears hopeful that ESPN will.
Last week, the Hall of Fame quarterback landed a five-year/$90 million contract to leave FOX for ESPN, where he'll be the color commentator on Monday Night Football. It's not yet clear who he'll work with on the telecasts, though the possibility of a familiar partner joining him at the four-letter network seemingly is in play.
Andrew Marchand of The New York Post reported last week that ESPN has interest in wooing Buck, who is set to make $11 million in 2022, the final year of his current contract with FOX. Aikman seemed intrigued by the idea of continuing to get to work with Buck when asked about it Monday:
Marchand seemed to believe that FOX wouldn't block Buck from hearing what ESPN has to say, though given that he's under contract they certainly could do that.
ABC -- which, like ESPN, is owned by Disney -- will come back into the Super Bowl rotation in 2027 when they'll broadcast Super Bowl LXI. So Buck wouldn't be giving up the chance to call the Super Bowl in the future if he left FOX, though he wouldn't be the voice for nearly as many postseason games.
If he left for ESPN, Buck would also lose the ability to call the World Series, which he's done for FOX every year since 2000 and 24 times total. It's unclear if a move to ESPN would also mean that Buck becomes part of their MLB coverage or not.
Buck, Aikman and Cris Collinsworth succeeded Pat Summerall and John Madden as FOX's No. 1 broadcast team in 2002. It's been just Buck and Aikman together since the 2005 season. Whether the two continue to work together or not will likely come down to how large of a check ESPN is willing to write in their quest to make Monday Night Football must-watch TV once again.
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