The acrimony between Joe Buck and Troy Aikman is generating most of the headlines, but as in most cases, it all comes down to money.
Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported Friday that ESPN executives believe they have merely “paused” contract extension talks with Aikman, and that their “reluctance” to negotiate is as much due to financial concerns as Aikman’s increasingly strained relationship with Buck.
Marchand characterized ESPN as being in “cost-cutting mode,” which at this point is an evergreen statement. The company has imposed round after round of layoffs over the past decade, and per Friday’s report, there is a “new round of layoffs forthcoming” — a detail that does not appear to have been previously known.
Aikman, Dylan Byers of Puck reported earlier this month, initially sought a $30 million/year contract — a two-thirds increase over his current deal, worth $18 million annually, and a figure approaching Tom Brady’s $37.5 million/year deal at Fox. Marchand reported the same on Friday.
It had already been known that negotiations broke off after that point, but Marchand on Friday added a new detail — Aikman and his representatives had offered to reduce their asking price to a figure in line with the 18 percent increase in salary Buck was reportedly given, but were rebuffed.
If Aikman is merely seeking a salary increase commensurate with that of Buck, the question becomes whether ESPN sees the pair as being of equivalent value. According to Marchand, ESPN executives “feel that there is depth in the NFL game-analyst market.” That is another way of saying Aikman is seen as more easily replaceable — presumably at a lower price point — than Buck, a Hall of Fame broadcaster in both football and baseball who handles more assignments for ESPN and Disney than “MNF.”
Marchand also described ESPN executives as less willing to “invest in a relationship that has gone sour,” suggesting that the pairing of Buck and Aikman could be seen as “too strained.”
The Buck-Aikman conflict has been unusually public, particularly considering that their friendship had also been unusually public. Both have been open for years about the closeness of their relationship, which extended beyond work into the sturm und drang of their personal lives. Now, that relationship is being scrutinized in one detailed, heavily-sourced article after another.
Marchand on Friday offered more details of the pair’s argument prior to a Bills-Rams game earlier this month, which he said included an invocation of the behind-the-scenes turnover that has plagued “MNF” since their arrival. After Buck is said to have told Aikman, “I’m not the reason you don’t have a contract,” Aikman is said to have responded, “I just never thought you’d do it to me.” That, Marchand wrote, was a reference to the multiple changes in producers and directions “MNF” has undergone during their five-year tenure, which Aikman apparently has put at the feet of Buck.
It should be noted that previous reporting on the turnover at “MNF” has implied that it was Aikman who had been clashing with the production team, and Buck is said to have implied as much in response: “They got rid of them because you were screaming at them.”
The extensive dirty laundry being aired about Buck, Aikman and “Monday Night Football” comes just months before ESPN carries its first Super Bowl — and the first for parent company Disney in 20 years.
The toxicity in the “Monday Night Football” booth recalls another high-profile disaster for ESPN, the Rachel Nichols–Maria Taylor saga that overshadowed the NBA Finals in 2021. That conflict — in which ESPN gave its lead NBA studio hosting role to Nichols, reneged midway through the COVID-paused season, and then had to weather internal strife after Nichols was eavesdropped in a private hotel room phone call suggesting Taylor was given the role because ESPN was concerned about diversity — triggered multiple years of dysfunction on its NBA broadcasts, culminating in the company outsourcing its studio coverage to TNT Sports.
It goes without saying that the stakes are much higher for “Monday Night Football” and the Super Bowl.
The arrival of Buck and Aikman in 2022 finally stabilized an “MNF” booth that had been a revolving door of mediocrity and gave the company arguably the best #1 booth in the NFL. Now, right before the finish line, what had been a coup is turning into a coup de grace.
