THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL? Here Come The Dirty Details On Joe Buck Troy Aikman And ESPN

It took about a week for the dirt to start coming out. 

The Joe Buck / Troy Aikman story is the biggest story in sports media. Buck got a fat new deal from ESPN. Aikman didn't. Ryan Glasspiegel was the first to report the two had some sort of incident before Rams/Bills last Monday. Then Aikman went on Dallas sports radio and told the world he had no new deal, was not really expecting one, and would probably be a free agent at the end of the year, breaking up a 25-year NFL partnership that dates back to Fox. 

It was only a matter of time before both sides started telling their stories. 

And so it begins. 

Dylan Byers of Puck talked to more than a dozen sources to try and piece this shit show together. Here are the things that stand out to this bald blogger. 

“There had been weeks of Troy becoming increasingly cold, difficult, short, making comments,” a source with direct knowledge of the dynamics between the two men told me. At SoFi Stadium, “Joe finally snapped,” the source continued. “He basically said, Dude, are we really going to do this? And Troy’s position was: You fucked me over!” (“They exchanged some very direct and honest feelings,” another source said.) 

Okay, so Troy felt fucked over. And he was kinda being a dick about it. I get it. But how bad did Troy get fucked here? 

Unbeknownst to Troy, however, Joe and his longtime CAA agent, Tom Young, tried to preempt the renegotiation process. In May, the two men approached ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and programming chief Burke Magnus to engage in early renewal discussions. ESPN offered to increase Joe’s annual salary from $15 million to $18 million for six years. The leadership also divulged the possibility that Joe might have a different partner in the booth next season, as they had not yet renegotiated Troy’s contract. He accepted the deal almost immediately. 

So, according to this, Joe and his agent went to get their deal done earlier this year. No Troy involved. Hm. And ESPN told Joe and his agent then that he might not be working with Troy anymore. They offered him a raise (good for him, by the way), and Joe signed "almost immediately." 

And this was back in May? Did Troy know? 

Sources dispute whether Troy knew about Joe’s deal beforehand or learned about it from The Athletic, but I’m reliably told that he didn’t learn about it from Jimmy or Joe. Either way, he felt double-crossed. “He saw it as the ultimate act of betrayal,” one source familiar with his thinking said. “They cut this deal in May and put it in a drawer. ESPN didn’t tell him, Joe didn’t tell him. Even CAA didn’t tell him.” 

Giphy Images.

Ouch. No one told Troy? And he might have found out from The Athletic last month? That's brutal. 

When Joe was told that Troy’s future at the network wasn’t a guarantee, a number of theoretical replacements were floated, including Olsen and Kirk Herbstreit, the ESPN College GameDay analyst who moonlights in the Amazon NFL booth on Thursday nights. ESPN could also conceivably turn to one of the Manning brothers, who are already in-house, or to coaching talent who may soon come off the field, like Sean McVay. Some have posited that ESPN could resuscitate Romo’s career with a “prove-it” deal at a lower price, and more than a few armchair analysts have floated the idea of putting McAfee in the booth. I’m told Joe seemed most receptive to the Olsen idea. 

Here we go. So, as Byers got it, ESPN had/have already started talking about other names to replace Aikman. Greg Olsen's deal with Fox is up, and all signs point to him coming to ESPN next year. Of course his name came up, and of course Joe signed off on it. 

Like 99 percent of television talent since the time of cathode rays, both men had a history of looking out for their own interests. Moreover, as several sources noted, their off-air relationship had been strained for some time. Beyond the financials, Jimmy may have also been reticent to reinvest in a partnership where, as one source put it, there was considerable “erosion.” 

So this had been looming for a while. I get it - work relationships are tough. I give both guys credit; they never seemed to have any issues on TV. They're still one of the best booths in all of sports, and last week they even did a great job with the Commanders' almost-comeback in Santa Clara. Speaking of - 

Earlier this week, ahead of the Monday Night Football broadcast in Santa Clara—the 49ers defeated the woeful Commanders, 23–17—I’m told that Joe attempted to move past the prior week’s episode. Speaking to the entire production team, including Troy, he apologized for losing his cool at SoFi and encouraged everyone to move on. The message, as one source recounted: “We’re all adults, we’ve all got jobs to do, let’s move forward, let’s have a great year.” Alas, when Joe was done talking, Troy offered no similar contrition or words of encouragement. 

Yeah, so they're done. There's no coming back - sounds like both Aikman and ESPN have already moved on. 

The problem, of course, is that Buck and Aikman have the rest of the season, a few playoff games, and ESPN's first Super Bowl to call together. 

The story is so juicy that In Touch Magazine (is it still a magazine?) ran a similar-toned story late Wednesday night. One source buried Buck, his agents, and ESPN. 

“Joe signed his new deal and never said a word to Troy. Not one word,” adds the source. “They’ve been partners for more than 20 years. In this business, when something like that is happening, the bosses and your partner sit you down and tell you. That’s standard practice. Nobody did that for Troy.” 

“People who’ve worked closely with both of them say they’ve never seen a betrayal like it,” the source continues. “It’s the biggest betrayal anyone in the industry can remember.”

That "act of betrayal" line is common in both stories. 

The juiciest thing here is that, according to Byers and his sources, Joe's new deal happened in May (without Aikman), and Troy didn't know until recently. That's tough. It's a bad look for Buck, but a worse look for ESPN. As someone who once read in the newspaper that my own Boston radio job was in jeopardy, let me tell you, it sucks to find out that info second-hand. Especially from the media

If Troy DID find out from The Athletic story? Shame on ESPN. But given their history, not surprising. 

Some updated predictions on this story from me:  

Olsen to ESPN next year

More dirt coming, this time pro-Buck and ESPN

Like a 10% chance that this gets so awkward, Aikman leaves ESPN during the season