NFL's Top TV Booths All Out of Contract After This Season
Every top NFL television booth is out of contract at the same time.
Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, Greg Olsen and Kirk Herbstreit will all see their current deals expire after this NFL season, according to Variety. Al Michaels is on a year-to-year contract with Amazon, meaning his deal is reviewed one season at a time. It sets up a rare free agency for the voices most fans hear every week.
Buck, the play-by-play caller who describes each snap, and Aikman, the analyst who explains tactics alongside him, call ESPN's "Monday Night Football". Michaels and Herbstreit hold the same roles on Amazon's "Thursday Night Football". Olsen works Fox's Sunday afternoon games.
The line-ups date to a busy 2022 shuffle. ESPN signed Buck and Aikman away from Fox to lead "Monday Night Football". Amazon recruited Michaels from NBC Sports and Herbstreit from ESPN to launch its Thursday package.
Olsen's path shifted after that. Fox's signing of Tom Brady as its lead analyst crowded out Olsen from the network's top team. He stayed with Fox on Sunday afternoons.
The money is large. Top booth personnel are estimated to earn between $15 million and $20 million per season. That pay scale is part of why any movement matters to networks, advertisers and the crews of hundreds who organise each live broadcast.
There is a trophy at the end of it. Buck and Aikman are entering their 25th season as partners and will call their seventh Super Bowl together this season, according to NBC Boston. That game airs on ESPN and ABC this year, according to Yahoo Sports.
For fans, this means familiar voices with uncertain futures. The same pairings could return on new deals. Or the most-watched programmes in American television could sound different next autumn.
