Troy Aikman and Joe Buck Leave Fox for ESPN and Monday Night Football

Big football news from ESPN today:

ESPN has signed acclaimed play-by-play commentator Joe Buck and leading football analyst Troy Aikman to multi-year deals, as the NFL’s longest current booth pairing and Pro Football Hall of Fame members will become the new voices of Monday Night Football. The iconic duo’s 2022 Monday Night Football debut will mark their 21st NFL season in the booth together, matching the legendary Pat Summerall and John Madden’s all-time record as on-air NFL partners. In their two decades together, Buck and Aikman have called six Super Bowls, surpassing all other pairings/booths except for Summerall and Madden. [...]

Troy Aikman said, “The opportunity to be a voice on Monday Night Football, adding to its legacy and being a part of the future of the NFL on ESPN, has me motivated and reflective. As a kid in California, the voices of Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, and my mom’s personal favorite, Don Meredith, echoed throughout our living room each week. Joe and I are humbled to be part of that same tradition that has existed for more than 50 years across generations of football fans.”

The shine has been off Monday Night Football ever since John Madden and Al Michaels left for NBC in 2006. Aikman and Buck put the shine back on. (And Don Meredith was everyone’s favorite; Cosell was the guy everyone in America loved to hate.) ESPN and ABC have the Super Bowl in 2027 and 2031, too. And now it looks like Fox is left holding a bag of “Who?” for their top booth team.

★ Wednesday, 16 March 2022