Monday Night Football will officially have a new broadcast team next fall.
ESPN announced Wednesday that play-by-play broadcaster Joe Buck and color commentator Troy Aikman will join the network beginning in 2022. The former Fox duo will take its talents to a different night of the week and serve as the lead announcing crew for Monday Night Football.
“When you have the opportunity to bring in the iconic, longest-running NFL broadcasting duo, you take it, especially at a time when we are on the cusp of a new era in our expanding relationship with the NFL,” said Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content in a release. “The NFL continues to ascend, and we now have more games than ever before, providing additional opportunities for Joe, Troy and our deep roster of commentators.”
The pair will replace Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick, who called Monday Night Football for the last two seasons.
In addition to their responsibilities on ESPN’s flagship NFL broadcast, Buck and Aikman will also produce content for ESPN+. More details on that aspect of their role will be announced at a later date, per the release.
New York Post sports media reporter Andrew Marchand first broke the news of Buck’s departure for ESPN last Friday. The 52-year-old sportscaster has spent the last 30 years at Fox and has called six Super Bowls for the network. He also served as Fox’s the annual voice of the World Series.
Buck’s wife Michelle Beisner-Buck, a reporter for ESPN, all but confirmed the news on Friday afternoon, when she welcomed him to the network on Instagram.
Buck reportedly had one year left on his deal with Fox worth $11 million. According to Marchand, his new contract with ESPN is set to span five years and is worth somewhere between $60 million and $75 million.
News of Aikman’s departure to ESPN broke in late February. His deal, per Marchand, is also five years, worth $90 million.
The official terms of their contracts was not revealed in ESPN’s announcement.
With Buck and Aikman now out of the picture, Fox is left with a major hole in its NFL announcing lineup. Marchand reports that Kevin Burkhardt is the “internal favorite” to take over as the network’s top football broadcaster.
