ESPN is set to broadcast its first Super Bowl this February with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman calling the game, but the pairing that has defined the network’s NFL coverage since 2022 may not last past that broadcast, according to OutKick.
Buck recently signed a new six-year, $108 million contract extension with ESPN. Aikman, however, remains far apart from the network in contract talks, sources told OutKick’s Bobby Burack. Aikman’s current deal expires after the Super Bowl, and at nearly 60 years old (he turns 60 in November), he has not received a long-term offer from the network. The reason for ESPN’s hesitation is not publicly known.
Buck and Aikman have worked together since 2002, when they began calling games at Fox. This season marks their 25th year as a broadcast team, and they moved to ESPN together in 2022.
Who Could Replace Aikman
Burack’s column raises the possibility that ESPN could turn to Greg Olsen, whose Fox contract also expires after this season, as a younger and less expensive option, though he notes Olsen may lack the same on-air chemistry with Buck, at least initially.
The piece also floats the possibility that ESPN could shift to a three-person booth pairing Buck with a white analyst and a Black analyst, naming Jason McCourty, currently part of ESPN’s NFL coverage and Monday Night Countdown team, as a name to watch. Burack ties that scenario to ESPN’s response to what he describes as
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