Troy Aikman has been a fixture on ESPN’s Monday Night Football the last several years, but now the Hall of Fame quarterback’s future with the network is in doubt.
Joe Buck, Aikman’s longtime broadcast partner, has reupped with the Worldwide Leader, but Aikman is still working on the final year of his original deal. The situation has caused “tension” between the two colleagues, which reportedly boiled over in the booth before last Monday’s game.
With Aikman leaving ESPN now a real possibility, some of the network’s biggest names are rallying in support of the Dallas Cowboys legend.
Stephen A., Michael Wilbon speak up
Michael Wilbon, co-host of Pardon the Interruption, ESPN’s longest-running show, sent a not-so-subtle message about Aikman to company higher-ups during a recent episode.
“You know who calls a game better than Troy Aikman, knuckleheads? Nobody calls a game better than Troy Aikman!” Wilbon said, via the New York Post.
On Monday, Stephen A. Smith, who is arguably ESPN’s biggest star, said he “sincerely hopes” Aikman returns to the Worldwide Leader.
“They are the A-team,” Smith said on his SiriusXM show, via Awful Announcing. “Joe Buck, it don’t get no better, play-by-play. Excuse the double negative. It’s just the truth. And I feel the exact same way about Troy Aikman, who I love, who I’ve loved for years. That’s their business, that’s ESPN’s business, that’s ABC’s business, and all of that. I know they’ll be calling the Super Bowl this year.
“Troy Aikman is a three-time Super Bowl champion, an elite football mind whose credentials and resume is as impeccable as they come, and it speaks for itself. I sincerely hope that we don’t lose him as a person that’s employed by ESPN, but if we do lose him, I want to wish him all the happiness in the world if he decides to go elsewhere. Because football must have Troy Aikman’s voice in it, he’s that special of a guy and a football mind, and I sincerely hope that we keep him.”
Aikman prepared for an exit
Back in September, Aikman said he thought his contract status would have been solved already and “when it might get done, if it gets done, is anyone’s guess.”
More recently, the 59-year-old has been less than enthusiastic about the possibility of ESPN wanting him back.
“It just seems to be where they’re going — that they’re gonna go in a different direction because there’s been no talks, no contract negotiations,” Aikman told Jimmy Traina last week.
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