Joe Buck and Troy Aikman sent shockwaves around the sports media world earlier this offseason when they departed Fox Sports and inked blockbuster deals to become the new lead voices of ESPN’s Monday Night Football coverage.
According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Buck agreed to a five-year contract with ESPN worth between $60 million and $75 million, while Aikman’s deal will earn him $92.5 million over the same span. The humongous contracts followed a recent trend in the sport broadcasting industry, which began when former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo signed a 10-year deal, worth $180 million with CBS in 2020.
Romo himself took note of the contracts signed by Buck and Aikman, but it doesn’t sound like there’s any jealousy from the side of the highly touted CBS analyst. In an interview with Stephen Douglas of The Big Lead, the former quarterback said he was ecstatic for his two peers and that the new deals will only be more beneficial for broadcasters in the future.
“I think everyone in the industry supports each other,” Romo told The Big Lead. “I mean for us, any time somebody makes money, it’s a good thing. It’s like players: everyone thinks they’re going to be upset, it’s like, well, when somebody makes more money, that’s helping out everybody else. And so, I think it’s well-deserved.
“I think there’s a lot of talented play-by-play and analysts out there. Troy and Joe, I’m really happy for them. I think that’s well-deserved and I think that’s a good thing, you know, for the whole industry.”
Romo, 42, is under contract with CBS until 2030, but will surely command a large price himself when he becomes a broadcasting free agent at the end of the decade.
