“Monday Evening Soccer” might be delivered to you by Fox subsequent N.F.L. season — The faces and voices behind Fox Sports activities, that’s.
ESPN introduced Wednesday that it had signed Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to multi-year offers to man the sales space of considered one of sport’s signature packages.
Further particulars — similar to Buck and Aikman agreeing to contribute content material to the ESPN+ streaming service — might be introduced later, ESPN mentioned in a information launch. However an individual aware of the preparations mentioned Buck could be paid practically $15 million per 12 months, and Aikman virtually $18 million — making them among the many highest-paid sports activities broadcasters. The individual spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of the phrases of the contracts had not been introduced.
The swap by Buck and Aikman, who will name video games collectively for his or her twenty first N.F.L. season in 2022-2023, was hardly a shock, with Buck’s anticipated departure first reported by the New York Publish. Nonetheless, the official announcement provided one more reminder of how essential — and profitable — soccer has been for the networks and broadcasters who ship the video games.
Regardless of criticism dogging the N.F.L. over a broad swath of points, together with a lawsuit accusing the league of discriminatory hiring practices, N.F.L. video games accounted for 48 of the 50 most-watched broadcasts within the 2021 common season. This 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl, which aired on NBC, recorded the sport’s finest rankings in 5 years, with a median viewers of 112.3 million viewers throughout tv and streaming.
If something, the competitors ought to be much more fierce subsequent season, with Amazon set to air “Thursday Evening Soccer.” In order that has prompted some musical chairs among the many predominantly male area of interest of soccer broadcasters.
This previous season, ESPN’s Monday crew featured Steve Levy because the play-by-play announcer and the previous participant and scout Louis Riddick and the previous quarterback Brian Griese as analysts. With Griese having just lately departed ESPN, which is owned by Disney, to change into the quarterbacks coach of the San Francisco 49ers, the community made a powerful push to woo Buck and Aikman, who’ve referred to as six Tremendous Bowls collectively.
At practically $18 million a 12 months, Aikman’s wage will rival that of CBS’ Tony Romo, one other former Dallas Cowboys quarterback turned coloration analyst.
“When you may have the chance to usher in the long-lasting, longest-running N.F.L. broadcasting duo, you’re taking it, particularly at a time once we are on the cusp of a brand new period in our increasing relationship with the N.F.L.,” Jimmy Pitaro, the chairman of ESPN and sports activities content material, mentioned in an announcement.
As for the opposite broadcasters, Fox Sports activities is reportedly leaning towards naming Kevin Burkhardt its major N.F.L. play-by-play announcer, based on reviews, whereas Amazon has been linked to Al Michaels, who referred to as the Tremendous Bowl final month for NBC.