According to Dan Gartland of Sports Illustrated, there are going to be changes made to American broadcasting when in comes to the National Football League in 2022. On Tuesday it was reported that Troy Aikman and Joe Buck are both leaving FOX for ESPN. Since 2002, Buck has been the lead play-by-playman for FOX, with Aikman has been the head colour commentator. However now both broadcasters are going to be part of Monday Night Football starting in 2022.
Aikman is one of two former Cowboys quarterbacks who are the head colour-commentator of a major television network. He is joined by Tony Romo, who is the top game analyst for CBS.
The salary that Aikman and Buck are about to receive is remarkable. Aikman has signed a five-year deal worth $92.5 million and Buck signed a five-year deal worth $75 million according to Zac Al-Khateeb and Edward Sutelan of The Sporting News.
Remember, Buck was previously not only the top voice for FOX’s NFL coverage, but Major League Baseball as well, and also did play-by-play for the U.S. Open in golf from 2014 to 2019. In baseball, Buck worked with Tim McCarver and John Smoltz. In golf, Buck worked with Australian Greg Norman and American Paul Azinger. It will now be interesting to see if Buck will do other sports, such as the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, ESPN Monday Night Baseball, ESPN Wednesday Night Baseball, and/or the Masters and PGA Championship.
It has also been reported that Al Michaels is leaving NBC for Thursday Night Football on Amazon, which is a subscription streaming service. The Thursday night games will only be shown on cable television in the local television markets.
