Troy Aikman doesn’t deny that there is tension between him and his longtime broadcast partner, Joe Buck, over Aikman’s contract situation.
The former Cowboys quarterback, who has been Buck’s NFL booth partner since 2002 and joined Buck on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” in 2022, addressed the tension with Buck during an appearance on 96.7 The Ticket Thursday morning after Front Office Sports reported the two argued before the game Monday in Los Angeles.
“There’s probably a time and a place for all of this. I don’t know if this is the time,” Aikman said on the station, according to the Dallas Morning News. “I don’t know if it’s hard to understand what happened. I’ll stream through this season and be a free agent at the end of the year and see what happens. I’m looking forward to whatever the rest of this season has in store for us, the Super Bowl and all that and where my next landing spot might be.”
Buck, 57, “broke the ice” Monday with Aikman regarding the contract issue, FOS reported, sparking an argument that subsided. This took place before the two scored the Bills’ overtime victory over the Rams. Videos posted online show Aikman and Buck on the field before Monday’s game, although the argument was not captured.
Buck signed a new six-year contract, worth approximately $108 million, according to The Athletic, while Aikman’s contract will expire after the first Super Bowl broadcast on ESPN in February. Aikman said he hasn’t heard from ESPN executives regarding a new contract.
And his latest comments, which talk about looking for his “next landing spot,” suggest he’s ready to move on.
The Athletic reported last month that ESPN planned to wait to resolve Aikman’s contract situation until after the Super Bowl. It’s unclear why they wanted to wait for Aikman and not Buck, unless ESPN simply wanted to move on from the three-time Super Bowl champion.
Bringing Buck and Aikman to major contracts in 2022 solidified ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” booth after years of failed experiments since Mike Tirico left for NBC after the 2015 season. The network brought in Sean McDonough, Joe Tessitore and Steve Levy as players before signing Buck, with Booger McFarland, Jason Witten, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick getting chances as analysts following Jon Gruden’s return to coaching following the 2017 season.
Letting Aikman walk would bring uncertainty back to the booth, although ESPN may have its eye on Greg Olsen, an impending free agent who briefly served as Fox Sports’ No. 1 booth analyst before Tom Brady joined Kevin Burkhardt in 2024.
Tony Romo is a free agent after parting ways with CBS earlier this month due to his drunk driving arrest in July. JJ Watt replaced Romo alongside Jim Nantz in the top CBS booth.
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