ESPN broadcasters Joe Buck and Troy Aikman reportedly argued off the air before the Oct. 12 Rams-Bills “Monday Night Football” game. USA TODAY’s Chris Bumbaca attributed the account to Front Office Sports, while Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp reported that his own sources confirmed a recent spat in the booth.
Aikman addressed the reported disagreement Oct. 15 on Dallas station 96.7 The Ticket. “There’s probably a time and a place for all that,” he said. “I don’t know if now is the time. I don’t know if it’s hard to figure out kind of what happened.” He added, “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,” as quoted by Sports Business Journal.
Buck has a new six-year ESPN deal. Aikman told Sports Business Journal’s Richard Deitsch the previous month that, after Buck’s deal, he had not heard from ESPN management about a possible extension for himself, Karp reported. Awful Announcing’s Sam Neumann, citing Front Office Sports reporter Ryan Glasspiegel, wrote that Buck raised their differing contract situations and that the exchange cooled before kickoff. Sports Business Journal reports that Aikman’s ESPN deal expires following Super Bowl LXI. Aikman said he looked forward to the Super Bowl and to seeing “where my next landing spot may be.”
