After two decades at Fox, Troy Aikman could be moving on. Soon.
Aikman concedes to Clarence E. Hill, Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Sunday’s 49ers-Rams NFC Championship could be Aikman’s last with Fox.
“It could be, yeah,” Aikman said. “I don’t anticipate that but it could be.”
Aikman reportedly has been targeted by Amazon for Thursday Night Football. He could end up working for both networks.
A major factor in any discussions involving Aikman will be money. With Tony Romo inching toward $20 million per year and Aikman currently (reportedly) in the range of $7.5 million annually, it’s time for the rising Romo tide to lift other boats, as it inevitably will -- no matter how crazy anyone else may think Romo’s compensation page is. It is what it is, and the influx of gambling money is only going to keep it moving farther and farther north.
“Those conversations are happening now,” Aikman told Hill regarding his potential suitors. “And I’m really being as honest as I can be about it. I really don’t know what it’s gonna look like when it’s all said and done and it does get settled. As to whether I’ll be working for Fox and Amazon, whether I’ll just be working for Fox or whether I’ll just be working for Amazon. I really don’t know what might happen.”
Neither is also an option, in theory. But that’s highly unlikely.
That said, Aikman said in late 2019 that he has entertained making the Millen-Lynch move from broadcast booth to G.M. gig with an NFL team. There has never been any serious chatter from a team’s perspective about that happening.
If Aikman ultimately has to choose between Fox and Amazon, he could be inclined to explore a new beginning. In 2019, he got a talking-to after taking Twitter shots at resident Fox colleague Doug Gottlieb, who described Andrew Luck’s decision to retire over rehabbing an injury as “the most millennial thing.”
In 2016, Aikman publicly complained about the network’s decision to hire Skip Bayless.
“Clearly, [then-Fox Sports president of national networks] Jamie Horowitz and I have a difference of opinion when it comes to building a successful organization. I believe success is achieved by acquiring and developing talented, respected and credible individuals, none of which applies to Skip Bayless.”
So maybe, if Amazon is ready to stuff enough cash into Aikman’s pockets, he’ll finally tell folks like Bayless and Gottlieb to go Fox themselves, and change networks.
