Joe Buck just locked in a six-year, $108 million extension with ESPN. Dan Le Batard says the deal makes perfect sense because of the job he’s performed elevating Troy Aikman as an analyst.
What We Know: Buck’s new deal runs through 2032, per The Athletic. It raises his annual salary from roughly $15 million to $18 million. The extension keeps him calling Monday Night Football and sets up a second ESPN Super Bowl assignment in 2031. ESPN declined to confirm contract specifics ahead of its first Super Bowl broadcast this February. Meanwhile, Troy Aikman is still unsigned past the current football season. Dan Le Batard shared his praise of Buck and how he’s elevated Aikman’s performance on ESPN in an interview with Nothing Personal with David Samson.
What They Said: (All quotes via Nothing Personal with David Samson):
Dan Le Batard believes Joe Buck would make any analyst great: “Joe Buck is the very best. When I say he’s the very best, I mean that Troy Aikman could be a hundred different people from football, and Joe Buck would make them Troy Aikman. He is a prodigy. The way that he crafts what he does, it’s very hard to make it look that seamless. He’s been doing it that way [since calling] the World Series in his twenties because he learned it from his daddy.”
Dan Le Batard found it interesting that Troy Aikman still remains unsigned: “This isn’t about ESPN actually doing anything other than signaling to everybody that we in the NFL have bought the best. I think it’s symbolic and interesting, they’ve been a team for 25 years. They didn’t say it about Troy Aikman. They didn’t say it yesterday. Now they might. But I’m telling you that Joe Buck could make a thousand Troy Aikmans.”
Dan Le Batard on why Troy Aikman still is on Monday Night Football: “Troy Aikman is a Hall of Famer and a quarterback. He gets to bring in the league from the 1990s because they remember a real star. But that’s the value of Troy Aikman. It’s not the words. It’s that they’ve got a Hall of Famer that your grandpa knows.”
What Remains Unclear: Aikman’s status past this year with ESPN is still unknown. Also, any added work for Buck with his new extension remains unclear.
What It Means: Le Batard’s take doubles as a read on ESPN’s priorities. Buck’s steadiness anchors the booth heading into the network’s first Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Aikman’s Hall of Fame pedigree still pulls in older fans, per Le Batard — a different kind of value. Consequently, ESPN’s next big decision may hinge on how it balances both. While some may argue that the pairing in the broadcast booth may not matter to the viewership of the broadcast, Buck and Aikman continue to drive numbers not since in some time on ESPN.
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