Troy Aikman will be ESPN’s main analyst on “Monday Night Football” this year, but he didn’t expect that to happen.
In an interview with 1310 The Ticket in Dallas, Aikman admitted Fox wasn’t aggressive in keeping him when he started negotiating with ESPN.
“When negotiations couldn’t reach what I felt was fair value, I was able to negotiate an opt-out after six months which allowed me to be a free agent,” Aikman said, via Greg Joyce of The New York Post “Then Fox never jumped into the game. They never made an offer. I didn’t have any conversations with Fox, until I got a call to congratulate me on my new deal. So that was a decision they made and it’s fine.”
Aikman wanted to stay with Fox, but he thinks the network made a decision on him more than he made a decision on them.
“Initially my plan was to stay at Fox, but as I said, that was a decision they made and I went a different route,” Aikman said.
ESPN is bringing in Aikman to replace Brian Griese, who left to become the new 49ers quarterbacks coach. Fox hasn’t settled on a new lead analyst yet, but the network is reportedly considering Sean Payton for the role.
As for the rest of the Fox crew, Erin Andrews’s contract has reportedly expired, while ESPN has reportedly been interested in reuniting Aikman with Joe Buck on “Monday Night Football.”
