Longtime broadcast partners Joe Buck and Troy Aikman had a verbal confrontation. During the matchup between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night (October 12).
'Monday Night Football' Hosts Had Verbal Confrontation During Broadcast Amid Contract Negotiations
Aikman has not been offered a new deal with the network. Despite his broadcast partner being inked to a new $108 million deal before the season started.
According to the report, there was obvious tension surrounding the situation. This led to Aikman trying to "break the ice." But Aikman was having none of it. This led to an ensuing argument that was later de-escalated.
Aikman and Buck called the entire game without any further issues.
Buck Gets Honest About Leaving Fox
Aikman and Buck have been like peanut butter and jelly when it comes to the world of sports broadcasting. Before joining ESPN in 2021, the two of them spent two decades broadcasting NFL games over on Fox.
Aikman's contract was up, with Buck's set to expire the following season. So the two networks drummed up a deal to let Buck out of his deal early so that he and Aikman could headline the games on ESPN. Despite going to a bigger network, many people speculated that Buck might have bitter feelings about them letting him go. However, Buck says that's not the case.
"I'm more grateful at this point," he said in a 2022 interview with Sports Illustrated. "I'm past all that. I'm more grateful that [Fox Sports CEO Eric] Shanks and I left as what we always were, which is friends first. When he told me they had worked out a deal with ESPN to make it a reality, it was a lot of thank-yous, and he said, "We love you, it makes me sick to my stomach, but we understand why you wanna go."
He also added:
"I always heard and was told by people way smarter and way more experienced in the business that these are not friendships, and it's always a work relationship. But at the end of the day, they were friends first because they could'veeasily stood in the way of this. And I take them at their word that they didn't want to lose me, but they also knew that if I didn't leave now, I was probably gonna leave in a year."
Neither Buck nor Aikman has responded to the report.
