💰 Aikman-Buck booth reportedly cost $34M a year; Brees eyes seat

Aikman is in his final ESPN contract year with no extension, per Yahoo Sports. He has not publicly addressed a reported row with Buck. ⏳

By , sports desk · Desk editor Gustavs Ērkšķis-Kreicbergs · · 6 min read

Troy AikmanREPORTEDPhoto: Leahdi · CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo: Leahdi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Desaturated and cropped by MrScandal.

What we know

  • Drew Brees told Front Office Sports "of course" he would be interested in replacing Troy Aikman on ESPN's Monday Night Football, Yahoo Sports reports. Brees is still employed by Fox.
  • Yahoo Sports reports Aikman is in the final year of his ESPN contract and has yet to agree to an extension. He has not publicly addressed a reported contract row with Joe Buck.
  • The New York Times, citing a person familiar with the terms, reported in March 2022 that Buck would be paid nearly $15M a year and Aikman almost $18M. ESPN gave no terms, per Deadline.
  • The Athletic reported in February 2025 that Buck left Fox for ESPN on a five-year, $75M contract.
  • Sports Business Journal reported that ESPN's price for letting Buck leave Fox a year early was one extra Big Ten game for Fox.

Drew Brees told Front Office Sports "of course" he would be interested in replacing Troy Aikman on ESPN's Monday Night Football, Yahoo Sports reports. Brees, still employed by Fox, added that he loves his team and "being able to broadcast games every week." That is the headline of the day. The receipts on what this booth has cost are the better read.

Here is the scoreboard. Yahoo Sports reports Aikman is in the final year of his ESPN contract and has yet to agree to an extension. It also reports that Aikman said he would court offers from other networks in the offseason. Reports emerged, per Yahoo, that Aikman and Joe Buck had a verbal disagreement over contracts after Buck signed an extension in September. Aikman has not publicly addressed it, Yahoo says. The Yahoo report carries no comment from ESPN or Buck on the dispute.

The timeline: booth changes and the money

01

2002: Madden heads to Monday night, Fox builds the A Team

The Ringer reports that Pat Summerall and John Madden split after Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002, with Madden leaving Fox for Monday Night Football. Fox's David Hill chose Cris Collinsworth as a co-analyst alongside Aikman and Buck, who were 35 and 33. Collinsworth left for NBC in 2005, which left Buck and Aikman as a duo.

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)

By the numbers

  • 4y 8mfrom first to latest entry on recordMar 2022 to Nov 2026, 2 dated entries in the file
  • 14receipts behind this story13 news reports, 1 statement, 2011 to 2026

Counted by MrScandal from the receipts, the Files and our rankings.

02

2011: ESPN locks up Monday night rights

Multichannel News reported that ESPN extended its NFL deal for eight more years of Monday Night Football, valued at an estimated $14.4 billion to $15.2 billion. The report set that against ESPN's then-current outlay of $1.1 billion per season. The booth is the garnish on a very large plate.

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)
03

March 2018: McDonough out, Tessitore in, Manning reportedly passes

The AP reported that ESPN moved Sean McDonough off Monday Night Football and that he signed a multiyear extension to return to college football. Sporting News, citing the New York Post, said Joe Tessitore would be named play-by-play voice, the sixth in the show's 48-year history. The Post also reported that Peyton Manning turned down an offer of $10 million annually to fill the analyst spot. ESPN had not announced the move at that point.

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04

May 2018: Witten and McFarland join the crew

ESPN made official that analysts Jason Witten and Booger McFarland would join Tessitore and reporter Lisa Salters for the 49th season. Witten had retired from the Dallas Cowboys that month to take the lead analyst job. Terms were not given in the reports read.

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05

2020: ESPN reshuffles again, and Brees is on the list of misses

Awful Announcing wrote that ESPN had struck out on Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Tony Romo before settling on Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick. So Brees has been on ESPN's wish list before. The columnist rated the new crew somewhere between "fine" and "very good."

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06

March 11, 2022: Buck's Fox exit, as the New York Post tells it

USA Today, citing the New York Post, reported that Fox allowed Buck to speak to ESPN. The Post said Buck had one year and $11 million left on his Fox contract and was expected to sign a five-year ESPN deal worth between $60 million and $75 million. Buck's wife, ESPN features reporter Michelle Beisner-Buck, confirmed the move in an Instagram post, per USA Today.

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07

March 16, 2022: ESPN announces the pair, gives no numbers

ESPN announced multiyear deals for Buck and Aikman, and Deadline noted that contract details were not provided. The New York Times, citing a person familiar with the arrangements who spoke anonymously, reported Buck would be paid nearly $15 million per year and Aikman almost $18 million. That would make them among the highest-paid sports broadcasters, the Times wrote.

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08

March 21, 2022: the price Fox charged for Buck

Sports Business Journal reported that ESPN paid Fox with one extra Big Ten game, the Sept. 1 Penn State-Purdue night game. That left Fox with 28 Big Ten games and ESPN with 26, against 27 each under the 2017 deal. SBJ also reported that ESPN was prepared to offer the play-by-play slot to Al Michaels if Fox had held out. Its verdict: "A case could be made that, 16 years on, Joe Buck was traded for a Boilermaker."

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09

2023: the combined bill, and the longest-running act

The Ringer wrote that ESPN had reportedly paid Buck and Aikman a combined $34 million a year to rescue Monday Night Football. The AP reported that in their 22nd season together they became the NFL's longest-tenured broadcast team, passing Summerall and Madden.

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)

"ESPN paid a lot of money for us to be there in that booth and call the games."

Troy Aikman, quoted by the AP, November 8, 2023
10

February 2025: the Buck contract gets a figure

The Athletic reported that Buck left Fox in early 2022 to become ESPN's Monday Night Football voice on a five-year, $75 million contract. Baseball is not part of that deal, the outlet said, as Buck prepared to call a one-off Opening Day game.

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11

September 2026: Buck extends, Aikman waits

Yahoo Sports reports Buck signed an extension with ESPN in September, and that Aikman, in the final year of his deal, has not. The terms of Buck's extension are not stated in the sources read. Reports of a verbal disagreement followed, per Yahoo, and Aikman has not publicly addressed them.

See the receipt (opens in a new tab)

The money, side by side

YearMoveReported moneyWho reported it
2011ESPN extends Monday Night Football rightsEstimated $14.4B to $15.2B, eight yearsMultichannel News
2018Peyton Manning reportedly turns down analyst role$10M a year offeredSporting News, citing the New York Post
2022Buck leaves FoxOne year and $11M left at Fox; five years, $60M to $75M expected at ESPNUSA Today, citing the New York Post
2022Buck and Aikman sign with ESPNBuck nearly $15M a year, Aikman almost $18MThe New York Times, citing a person familiar
2023Booth cost to ESPN$34M a year combined, reportedlyThe Ringer
2025Buck's ESPN contractFive years, $75MThe Athletic

What happens next

Yahoo Sports reports that if ESPN moves on from Aikman, it would be the network's first booth change since 2022. It would also be the first time since 2002 that Buck works with someone other than Aikman on an NFL broadcast. Yahoo names Sean McVay, Travis Kelce and Greg Olsen as names floated in rumors, and none of that is confirmed. If you are keeping score, the record shows a booth that was built with a reported $34M a year and a trade for a Big Ten game. MrMuscles notes that nobody has yet posted the final line on the sequel.

The Troy Aikman file

Last entry Nov 11, 2026
  1. Reported

    Yahoo Sports reports Aikman is in the final year of his ESPN contract and has yet to agree to an extension. This story

  2. Reported

    The New York Times, citing an anonymous person familiar, reported Aikman would be paid almost $18M a year at ESPN. This story

On file: The Troy Aikman file · The Drew Brees file · The ESPN file · The Joe Buck file

The Ledger

On the record

  • ESPN announced multiyear deals for Buck and Aikman on March 16, 2022, and Yahoo Sports reports Aikman is in the final year of his contract with no extension.

Still rumour

  • Every pay figure here is reported, not published: ESPN gave no terms, and the 2022 numbers come from a person familiar and from the New York Post.
  • The reported Buck-Aikman contract row has no on-record comment from either man, and ESPN's plans for the booth are not confirmed. Buck's September extension terms are not in the sources read.

That's the record. The rest is rumour. - MrMuscles

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