NFL fans are now aware of the back-and-forth between longtime analysts Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. The centre of it all is Buck signing a contract while Aikman is still on the waiting list of the Morning Night Football crew to receive an extension. While Aikman is tied to ESPN till Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, Outkick analyst Dan Dakich urged ESPN to put Aikman on a timer. 

“You ever want to know why America is the greatest country ever invented? Look no further than media guys. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman making 18 million dollars a year this year. 18 million,” said Dakich. “And they’re bi—ing at each other because Buck went and got a new contract and Aikman didn’t. Honestly God.

“I don’t understand why you just don’t say to these two idiots, ‘Hey, look, I’m gonna pay you five million, I’m gonna pay you five million; if you don’t want it, we’ll go get somebody else, pay them five million. Everybody’s gonna watch the NFL no matter what.”

At the center of the reported friction was Buck’s massive contract extension with ESPN. Buck negotiated a six-year, $108 million agreement in September, securing his position on Monday Night Football through the network’s next Super Bowl in 2031. While Aikman’s extension is put on hold, what stung him more was that the negotiations were kept a secret from him.

But Dakich believes that it’s high time that ESPN gives Aikman an ultimatum. 

“It reminds me when Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic acted like school children. I remember doing a show with them, they wouldn’t talk to each other because Greenberg went and he got a contract and Golic and his wife got their little feelings hurt,” recalled Dakich. “Jesus Christ, does anybody just say thank you, what a great opportunity? No, we want more, more, more.

“It’s amazing. Now maybe Golick and Greenberg earned it because I don’t think anybody’s paid attention, mostly ESPN, executives haven’t paid attention, ESPN radio since those two left, but certainly Buck and Aikman, they ought to bend the knee every single day and say thank God for this country. We get 18 million to do what? Call one game a week?”

The situation is kind of the same years later. Dylan Byers reported that Aikman’s camp opened negotiations with ESPN by demanding approximately $30 million per year. The network, however, reportedly decided to postpone further discussions until the Super Bowl was over.

It’s not just the disagreements over the contract that led ESPN to postpone the extension talks. Things turned messier after Aikman’s controversial remark. 

“I came over in 2022 in large part to kind of help mend the relationship with ESPN and the NFL,” he said, per Sports Media Watch. “I feel like the reason that I was brought over, I fulfilled whatever obligations they were expecting from me. So much so that … the league now owns 10% of the network. So I would say the fence has been mended.”

Amidst all this, the chances of replacement are looming high. The Athletic reports that Greg Olsen is considered the favorite among broadcasting insiders to replace Aikman if ESPN opts against extending his deal, potentially ending one of the NFL’s longest-running television partnerships.

“Fox’s No. 2 game analyst, Greg Olsen, is widely considered by people inside the sports-media industry to be the favorite to replace Aikman on ‘Monday Night Football,'” Andrew Marchand reported.

“Though ESPN could try to convince Peyton and/or Eli Manning, Travis and/or Jason Kelce, or may hold out the possibility of using Kirk Herbstreit, though he just re-signed an NFL deal with Prime Video.”

Talking about his return, Marchand sees a high chance that ESPN will not get rid of Aikman before the Super Bowl. 

“I’ll put that at 95% he does it, 5% he doesn’t,” Marchand replied. “Look, they’re professional, but it’s ugly.”