Joe Buck Has New ESPN Deal, How About Sidekick Troy Aikman?

Troy Aikman has no new ESPN deal in place after Joe Buck signed a six-year, $108 million extension — and sources warn a matching Aikman contract is not next in line, at least not soon. The questions started as soon as news of Buck’s deal broke: What’s up with Aikman? The former Cowboys quarterback and Buck have been paired since 2002, spent 20 years together at Fox, and moved as a team to ESPN in 2022 to take over Monday Night Football. 

Their profile has only grown. Many consider them the NFL’s best current booth.

That history made a simultaneous renewal seem obvious. Both men are represented by CAA. Buck’s contract, reported by The Athletic, locks him in through 2031. Aikman is in the final year of a five-year, $90 million deal that pays $18 million a season. “The big question to me: Why wasn’t Troy renewed at the same time as Joe?” one source told Front Office Sports.

There are several possible answers.

One is money. Color analysts have long out-earned play-by-play voices, a market John Madden helped set. Tom Brady then reset it with a 10-year Fox deal at $37.5 million a year. Aikman is tied with CBS’s Tony Romo as the second-highest-paid NFL analyst, far behind Brady. A 20% raise in line with Buck’s jump from $15 million to $18 million would take Aikman to about $21.6 million — still well short of “Brady money.”  Finding a number between $18 million and $37.5 million may be the delay.

Another factor is the coming shuffle among analysts. Romo is on indefinite leave and could be done at CBS. Fox’s Greg Olsen, Amazon’s Kirk Herbstreit and CBS’s J.J. Watt are all up after this season. That gives Aikman options and gives ESPN alternatives. The result is a delicate negotiation.

ESPN will not discuss either contract until after Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, 2027, the network’s first Super Bowl. The two sides are talking. Multiple sources say no Aikman deal is imminent. That leaves open questions heading into ESPN’s first two Super Bowls, after the 2026 and 2030 seasons — starting with whether Aikman will settle for a raise that still leaves him well behind Brady.