When it comes to ESPN’s Monday Night Football, Troy Aikman’s name always follows Joe Buck’s and vice versa. The duo has shared an NFL broadcast booth for 25 seasons. But according to reports, lately things have turned sour between the two. Another ESPN host, Charles Barkley, however, puts Aikman on the hot seat for messing with Buck. 

“I’m very disappointed in Troy Aikman. It’s not Joe Buck’s job to get him a deal. Like, he can’t tell them to give him a deal,” Barkley shared on the 97.5 The Fanatic podcast. “Now, if he wants to talk to Joe privately, that’s fine. But why are you mad? 

“They gave Joe a deal, look like they don’t want to give you a deal, which they don’t have to give you a deal. But you don’t have to drag Joe Buck into it. Like, it ain’t his job. I’m pretty sure they’ve been together 25 years. I’m pretty sure they love working together. But maybe they want to go in a different direction.”

Things blew up between the two ahead of the game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium in LA. 

“It nearly got physical off air,” the source tells In Touch exclusively. “They were very close from coming to blows.”

The root of the tussle was the tense situation prevailing between the two surrounding a contract extension. As per the reports, Buck signed a six-year extension worth around $108 million to remain the voice of Monday Night Football through ESPN’s next Super Bowl in 2031, with the deal becoming public on September 16, according to The Athletic. He negotiated the agreement in May, but neither Buck, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro, nor their shared agency, CAA, informed Aikman, according to Puck reporter Dylan Byers’ report. 

“Joe signed his new deal and never said a word to Troy. Not one word,” shared the source. “They’ve been partners for more than 20 years. In this business, when something like that is happening, the bosses and your partner sit you down and tell you. That’s standard practice. Nobody did that for Troy.”

Things have been a bit sensitive for Aikman lately, which might have led to the outburst. With his five-year deal worth approximately $90 million nearing its end, Aikman has not received a formal contract offer from ESPN or Disney. One of his agents reportedly sought a valuation of around $30 million annually, compared with his current average of $18 million, but negotiations have reached a standstill, Sports Media Watch reported.

“There’s probably a time and a place for all that. I don’t know if now is the time,” the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback said. “I don’t know if it’s hard to figure out kind of what’s happened. I’ll broadcast through this season, and I’ll be a free agent at the end of the year and kind of see what happens. But I’m looking forward to whatever the rest of this season does hold and the Super Bowl and all that and where my next landing spot might be.”

While expressing his frustration toward Aikman, Barkley made a strong case to keep Buck out of this squabble.

After wrapping up his NFL career, Aikman switched to broadcasting and joined Buck at FOX in 2002. The two joined ESPN in 2022 after leaving FOX. Aikman secured his contract before Buck signed with the network a few weeks later.

“But I don’t understand why you would be mad at Joe Buck,” added Barkley. “He didn’t negotiate the contract. You didn’t, when he went there first, you didn’t negotiate with him. Remember, he left the network first. And then when he got Joe Buck later. So I was disappointed to hear that Troy’s been coming after Joe Buck.”

When it comes to Aikman, he might be already feeling the deja vu. He had given FOX 20 years of his career, yet when his contract came up in 2022, management let him go without putting an offer on the table. Time to see whether the history will repeat.