Joe Buck to Leave Fox Sports for Major Network, According to Report
Joe Buck is joining a new network this fall. According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Buck is expected to leave Fox Sports and join ESPN where he will be the voice of Monday Night Football. The 52-year-old announcer was granted permission to talk with ESPN, and a deal is set to be finalized soon.
Buck will be reunited with Troy Aikman who also reportedly left Fox Sports for ESPN. Marchand says that Buck had one-year remaining on his current contract, and Fox is letting him out of his contract early. Buck is expected to sign a five-year deal that is worth $60-75 million. For Aikman, he reportedly agreed to a five-year, $92 million contract.
Buck has been the lead voice for Fox NFL since 2002. According to his bio, Buck has won seven Emmy Awards and has called six Super Bowls and 23 World Series. In 2020, Buck was informed that was would be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the winner of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. In January, Buck appeared on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast to discuss a replacement for Aikman on Fox.
"I think I would be in the conversation, but I think they are certainly in no way, shape or form obligated to listen to anything I say," Buck said. "They're the boss. I'm the guy that sits in the booth. I've worked with multiple people in baseball. I've worked with multiple people in football. I started with Tim Green and I've been with Bill Maas and Brian Baldinger and different people along the way. It's been 20 years and when you do these games that are intense as they are, I know where he's going and he knows where I'm going and I know what he wants to talk about and he knows when and what I want to talk about. That's really hard to replicate."
The fact that Buck and Aikman have been together for nearly 20 years could be the reason Buck is leaving Fox for ESPN. And while it looks like ESPN has its broadcast team set for the 2022 NFL season, Fox now has to look for a new duo for the No. 1 spot. For the 2021 season, Fox's No. 2 team was Kevin Burkhardt and former NFL tight end Greg Olsen with Pam Oliver on the sidelines.