During an appearance on the SI Media Podcast, Monday Night Football broadcaster Joe Buck said he believes FOX wasn’t heartbroken to hear he and Troy Aikman were looking elsewhere.
While discussing the move, host Jimmy Traina said FOX was “dumb enough” to let Buck and Aikman leave, which Buck then said it seemed as if that was almost what the network wanted.
“You said Fox was ‘dumb enough’ earlier to let Troy and me leave,” Buck said. “I just think on some level, this is kind of what they wanted. I think when there was a crack in this relationship.”
“I think you’ve got new people in charge there, relatively. And I think it’s human nature to want to put your fingerprints and mold the broadcast — as the boss — the way you want to mold it. I was hired by David Hill and Ed Goren, and I go back to 1994 and Troy — people talk about how long I was there — Troy was at Fox for 21 years, and we both date back to a different regime.
“And so Eric Shanks has been the conduit from those days to now. But other people are in charge there as well, and they wanted a refresh. And they wanted a broadcast that reflected them a little bit and a fresh start.”
When asked if that sentiment was hurtful, Buck said he got what they were trying to do.
“I understand it. I think that’s human nature. It was kind of like, ‘You wanna go? Go’. We’ll live. We’ll do this the way we want to do it now. You’re the Hill/Goren guys’. And so I’m where I should be and I think ESPN was excited to bring those 20 years to their booth. And I think Fox was excited to start over and mold something different that didn’t involve me, and I’m good with that.”
Buck was also asked if ESPN ever discusses how they feel about the arrangement in its first year, and he shared that from ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro on down “the feedback has been just awesome, so you feel appreciated”.
