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“Why would anybody pay an announcer $18 million a year?”
Ever since the billion-dollar spending spree for NFL announcer talent kicked off, that question has been asked by fans and sports business executives.
The answer for ESPN is apparent since it lured Fox’s Troy Aikman and Joe Buck from rival Fox Sports to serve as their new “Monday Night Football” announce team. Namely: To land better games from the NFL.
For years, ESPN was viewed as having the weakest NFL broadcast team. And for years, the Worldwide Leader in Sports got the weakest game schedule from the NFL power players on Park Avenue. That was no accident.
The $11 billion league demands the best from TV partners ESPN, Fox, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, and Amazon in front of and behind the camera.
Every year, these networks jockey for most favored nation status from the NFL. Call it the game within a game for NFL TV partners.
The best NFL TV teams help attract the best game matchups. The best game matchups lure the biggest audiences. The biggest audiences keep advertisers and affiliates happy.
With Aikman, Buck veteran, and sideline reporter Lisa Salters, ESPN now boasts arguably the best TV team in the NFL.
Between them, Aikman and Buck will earn an estimated $33 million this year. But they’ve also called six Super Bowls and 300 NFL games over 20 years together in the booth. That kind of star power is helping 53-year-old MNF finally land a schedule worthy of its venerable reputation.
The NFL boosted ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” portfolio to 21 games from 19 last year, plus a Wild Card Playoff game and the Pro Bowl, eight divisional showdowns, an exclusive game on sister Disney network ABC, and an international Sunday game on ESPN. Next year, ESPN will get 23 games, plus a Wild Card and Divisional Playoff game.
- Aikman-Buck-Salters and officiating analyst John Parry make their regular-season debut Sep. 12, when new Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson returns to Seattle.
- In Week 2, there will be a Disney doubleheader, with ESPN and ABC each televising “Monday Night Football” games.
- Other marquee games: the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams vs. the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field; two appearances by Joe Burrow and the AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals; Burrow and Buffalo Bills superstar Josh Allen’s first ever matchup; and appearances by six former MVPs.
- Aikman-Buck are poised to call Super Bowls for ABC/ESPN in 2026 and 2030.
When ESPN was whiteboarding the best NFL announcers this offseason, they viewed Aikman-Buck as their dream team, said Stephanie Druley, ESPN’s executive vice president of event and studio production. And a duo that could help “Monday Night Football” return to its glory days with Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, and Don Meredith.
“We believe, yes, it will help us. These guys deserve a certain level of game. And the expectation is that the league sees that as well. We will reap the benefit of that. That is our hope,” Druley said on a press call Wednesday. “We have an incredible schedule this year. I do think the booth matters in the amount of quality you’re going to get.”
Meanwhile, Buck said he’s up for appearing on Disney’s other ESPN and ABC shows. While it’s not contractually mandated, Buck has always enjoyed appearing on TV/radio shows and podcasts outside his regular duties.
Said Buck: “As far as anything that’s baked into a contract, no. I think they just rely on us to say, ‘Well, we’re paying you guys an exorbitant amount of money, so if somebody asks you to come on TV, come on TV. Don’t be a putz.’”
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