NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has entered the public dispute brewing inside ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” booth, siding with play-by-play announcer Joe Buck over his longtime broadcast partner, Troy Aikman.
The tension follows news that Buck signed a lucrative contract extension with ESPN, while Aikman remains in negotiations with the network. The two are set to call ESPN’s first-ever Super Bowl broadcast in February, regardless of how the contract talks shake out.
Barkley, appearing Wednesday on the Philadelphia sports station 97.5 The Fanatic’s “Unfiltered” program, did not mince words about where responsibility lies.
“I’m very disappointed in Troy Aikman, honestly,” Barkley said, according to Awful Announcing. “It’s not Joe Buck’s job to get him a deal. Like, he can’t tell them to give him a deal. Now, if he wants to talk to Joe privately, that’s fine. But why are you mad? They gave Joe a deal. It looks like they don’t want to give you a deal, which they don’t have to give you a deal. But you don’t have to drag Joe Buck into it. Like, it ain’t his job.”
Buck and Aikman have worked together as a broadcast team for 25 years, a pairing Barkley suggested may simply be reaching a natural turning point.
“They’ve been together 25 years,” Barkley said. “I’m pretty sure they love working together, but maybe they want to go in a different direction.”
Barkley also pointed out that Buck was not the one who set the terms of ESPN’s dealings with Aikman, and noted that Buck himself once left a network first without any such negotiation controversy.
“But I don’t understand why you would be mad at Joe Buck. He ain’t negotiating the contract,” Barkley said. “When he went there first, you didn’t negotiate with him. Remember? He left the network first.”
ESPN has not publicly detailed the status of Aikman’s contract talks. The network is scheduled to broadcast Super Bowl LXI next February, with Buck and Aikman expected in the booth together.
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