Changes are afoot in the Monday Night Football booth it seems. Andrew Marchand reported on Wednesday night that Troy Aikman is closing in on an $18 million per year deal with ESPN. The expectation is that he would be partnered with someone other than Steve Levy if the deal gets done.
The big names and big money were a topic of conversation on WQAM in Miami on Thursday morning. Joe Rose and Zach Krantz were a bit confused as to why ESPN was looking to make a change. Both agreed that Levy, Brian Griese, and Louis Riddick did a fine job the last two seasons.
One hot rumor is that Joe Buck may follow his FOX partner to ESPN. Krantz said that while guys like Aikman and Tony Romo are the celebrities on their broadcast teams, he expects networks to be more protective of the guys actually calling the game.
“Nantz and Buck do so much for the network,” he said. “Aikman does football and when the football season’s over he goes away.”
Al Michaels’s name has also been mentioned as a potential partner for Aikman. Either one would mean that ESPN would have to write another 8 figure check each year. Joe Rose says he isn’t sure that the production is worth the investment, because he has never seen evidence of who the play-by-play crew is effecting the ratings.
“Why are they paying the Romos and the Aikmans? There’s nobody watching going ‘I gotta watch because now Troy Aikman’s doing the game’. It’s not a show, because obviously he’s really good, but everybody they got doing the games is really good.”
Zach Krantz raised an interesting point. ESPN has invested a lot in the ManningCast. The network just signed an extension to its deal with Peyton’s Omaha Productions. Doesn’t the network already have its superstars on Monday night?
Krantz wondered why ESPN would not just ask the Manning brothers to move over to the main broadcast. Rose is sure that has been discussed.
“If Peyton Manning told ESPN he would take that job, they would drop Troy Aikman like a bad date,” he said.
