Troy Aikman, Joe Buck to become ESPN’s ‘Monday Night Football’ broadcast team
from www.nfl.com
A Hall of Famer is headed to Monday night, and his longtime play-by-play partner is, as well.
After two decades commentating together, Troy Aikman and Joe Buck have signed multiyear agreements to become ESPN’s new Monday Night Football broadcast team, ESPN announced on Wednesday.
Aikman spent the last 22 years with FOX as an analyst, while Buck has called NFL games for the last 28 seasons. The 2022 NFL season will be Buck and Aikman’s 21st together.
“The opportunity to be a voice on Monday Night Football, adding to its legacy and being a part of the future of the NFL on ESPN, has me motivated and reflective,” Aikman said in an ESPN press release. “As a kid in California, the voices of Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, and my mom’s personal favorite, Don Meredith, echoed throughout our living room each week. Joe and I are humbled to be part of that same tradition that has existed for more than 50 years across generations of football fans. I am looking forward to the next several years with ESPN and all our new teammates.”
Aikman, the legendary former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, and Buck had been FOX’s top broadcasting tandem since 2002.
The 55-year-old Aikman was the No. 1 overall selection of the 1989 NFL Draft before embarking on a playing career in which he won three Super Bowls and went to six Pro Bowls. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
Following his retirement in 2000, Aikman quickly transitioned to the booth and has become one of the most recognizable and respected voices of NFL Sundays over the past two decades.
While Aikman and Tony Romo, each of them former Cowboys quarterbacks, are arguably the most high-profile NFL analysts on the airwaves, Aikman will become the first Hall of Fame player to become a member of the Monday night broadcast team since MNF moved from ABC to ESPN in 2006.
He’ll be the first former Cowboys QB in the Monday booth since Don Meredith, who was part of the first-ever MNF team and had two stints (1970-1973, 1977-1984).
Buck, 52, is an eight-time Emmy Award winner and received the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 2020.
“Everything about Monday Night Football, including the broadcast, set the standard for the modern NFL experience,” Buck said. “My earliest memories of walking around football stadiums are tagging along with my dad as he called Monday Night Football on radio. To return to the stadium on Monday nights with Troy — who I have the utmost comfort with and confidence in — and begin a new chapter, for us and ESPN, has me excited about this season and our future.”
Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick comprised the main broadcast for Monday Night Football over the past two NFL seasons. Griese was announced earlier in March as the San Francisco 49ers’ new quarterbacks coach.