Charles Barkley isn’t happy with how Troy Aikman has been behaving in the wake of his “Monday Night Football” contract drama.
Aikman, 59, is on an expiring contract at ESPN. His broadcasting partner, Joe Buck, signed a $100 million extension earlier this season. Aikman is convinced that he won’t be back at ESPN in 2027.
“It just seems to be where they’re going — that they’re gonna go in a different direction because there’s been no talks, no contract negotiations,” Aikman said on Dallas radio earlier this month. “We’re in a Super Bowl year. The Super Bowl is Feb. 14. My contract ends in March. It just doesn’t seem logical that if they were gonna keep me, something wouldn’t be in place before that.”
The NFL doesn’t seem to be concerned with the drama, though.
“No concern. I don’t know if you watched the game on Monday night,” NFL chief media officer Hans Schroeder said via Front Office Sport’s Mark Maske. “It was an incredible game, right? It was an incredible game and incredible coverage by Joe and Troy, just like they always do.”
“I think the fans are deserving of first-class game production, which Joe and Troy have, I think, going back to ’02 or something was their first year, a history of doing that as well as anyone. And I think you’ll continue to see them do that as well as anyone. I thought it was awesome Monday night. And so we’re incredibly excited about the year… and the Super Bowl and their coverage and getting them back as far as ESPN’s first ever and ABC’s in a long time. They’re going to do an unbelievable job.”
Julio Aguilar/Getty Images
Barkley, who now works for ESPN as part of “Inside the NBA,” isn’t happy with Aikman. He says that it’s not Buck’s fault that he got a new contract and Aikman didn’t.
Barkley calls out Aikman in public rant
Barkley appeared on 97.5 The Fanatic’s Unfiltered on Wednesday.
“I’m very disappointed in Troy Aikman, honestly,” Barkley said. “It’s not Joe Buck’s job to get him a deal. Like, he can’t tell them to give him a deal. Now, if he wants to talk to Joe privately, that’s fine. But why are you mad? They gave Joe a deal. It looks like they don’t want to give you a deal, which they don’t have to give you a deal. But you don’t have to drag Joe Buck into it. Like, it ain’t his job.”
“They’ve been together 25 years,” Barkley continued. “I’m pretty sure they love working together, but maybe they want to go in a different direction. But I don’t understand why you would be mad at Joe Buck. He ain’t negotiating the contract. When he went there first, you didn’t negotiate with him. Remember? He left the network first.”
Aikman, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to be interested in discussing the drama – for now.
“There’s probably a time and a place for all that to be discussed,” Aikman said. “I don’t know if now is the time. I don’t know if it’s hard to figure out kind of what’s happened. I’ll broadcast through this season, and I’ll be a free agent at the end of the year and kind of see what happens. But I’m looking forward to whatever the rest of this year does hold and the Super Bowl and all that and where my next landing spot might be.”
