Joe Buck has spent more than three decades describing enormous contracts, championship bonuses, and superstar paydays. Now the longtime broadcaster is on the verge of another enormous payday of his own. The “Monday Night Football” play-by-play announcer has reportedly agreed to a six-year contract extension with ESPN worth approximately $108 million, which would raise his annual salary from $15 million to roughly $18 million.
The extension comes as Buck finishes the five-year, $75 million contract he signed when he left Fox for ESPN in 2022. If he completes both agreements, ESPN will have committed approximately $183 million to Buck over an 11-year stretch. And while the new contract is primarily about keeping one of football’s most recognizable voices on “Monday Night Football,” it could eventually produce an intriguing bonus: a return to the World Series.
From $75 Million To $108 Million
When Joe Buck left Fox Sports in 2022, ESPN gave him a five-year, $75 million contract to become the new voice of “Monday Night Football.” The deal worked out to $15 million per year and reunited him with longtime booth partner Troy Aikman, who had separately landed a five-year, $90 million ESPN contract.
Buck’s current deal expires after the 2026 NFL season, but ESPN apparently has no intention of letting him hit the open market. According to The Athletic, Buck has agreed to terms on a new six-year extension worth roughly $108 million. At $18 million per year, the new contract represents a 20% raise and would keep him at ESPN well into the next decade.
Add the two contracts together, and Buck is positioned to collect approximately $183 million from ESPN alone. That total does not include the millions he earned during his nearly three decades at Fox, nor income from endorsements, books, appearances, and other projects.
(Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
25 Years With Troy Aikman
A major part of Buck’s value to ESPN is his partnership with Aikman. The two first began calling NFL games together at Fox in 2002 and have now spent 25 seasons in the same booth, reportedly the longest partnership in NFL broadcasting history.
When ESPN hired Aikman away from Fox in 2022, the network quickly pursued Buck as well rather than splitting up one of sports television’s most familiar broadcasting teams. The result was essentially a transplant of Fox’s top NFL booth to “Monday Night Football,” with Buck handling play-by-play and Aikman providing analysis.
Their arrival was especially important because ESPN’s latest NFL rights agreement finally included Super Bowl broadcasts. Buck and Aikman are scheduled to call the first Super Bowl carried by ESPN and ABC in February 2027, and Buck’s new extension would keep him under contract when the Disney-owned networks get another Super Bowl in 2031. Aikman’s current $90 million contract also expires after the 2026 season, although a new agreement for him has not yet been reported.
Joe Buck Was Once The Voice Of October
Football may be Buck’s full-time focus today, but for millions of sports fans he will always be closely associated with baseball. Buck became Fox’s lead Major League Baseball play-by-play announcer during the 1990s and called his first World Series in 1996, when he was just 27 years old.
He ultimately called 24 World Series for Fox, along with 21 MLB All-Star Games and dozens of postseason series. His voice accompanied some of the defining baseball moments of his era, from Mark McGwire’s record-breaking 62nd home run in 1998 to the Boston Red Sox ending their 86-year championship drought in 2004 and the Chicago Cubs finally winning the World Series in 2016.
Buck’s baseball work largely ended when he left Fox for ESPN in 2022. Although he has made occasional baseball appearances since then, his primary job at ESPN has been “Monday Night Football,” meaning the sport that occupied a huge portion of his professional life suddenly became a relatively small part of it.
ESPN Could Put Buck Back In The World Series
That separation from baseball may not last forever. Fox owns the television rights to the World Series through the 2028 season, after which Major League Baseball’s national television landscape could change significantly.
According to The Athletic, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro is interested in acquiring World Series rights beginning in 2029. Pitaro has also reportedly told Buck that if ESPN succeeds in landing the World Series, he would like Buck behind the microphone.
There is no provision in Buck’s new contract guaranteeing him a World Series assignment, so several things would have to happen first. ESPN would need to win the rights, and the network would then need to follow through on Pitaro’s apparent interest in using Buck. But considering Buck’s history with the event, putting him back in the booth would be an obvious option if ESPN ends up with the Fall Classic.
One Of The Highest-Paid Broadcasters In Sports
An $18 million annual salary puts Buck firmly among the highest-paid personalities in sports media. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith reportedly earns around $21 million per year, while Aikman’s current deal averages $18 million annually.
Here are some of the biggest current annual paydays in American sports broadcasting:
- Tom Brady — $37.5 million per year: Fox gave Brady a reported 10-year, $375 million contract to serve as its lead NFL analyst and a network ambassador.
- Pat McAfee — approaching $30 million per year: McAfee’s existing ESPN relationship combines the production and licensing agreement for “The Pat McAfee Show” with separate compensation for “College GameDay” and other appearances, making his deal difficult to compare directly with a conventional broadcaster salary.
- Stephen A. Smith — approximately $21 million per year: ESPN’s longtime star signed a lucrative new agreement that keeps him at the center of the network’s studio programming.
- Joe Buck — approximately $18 million per year: Buck’s new six-year, $108 million extension works out to roughly $18 million annually.
- Troy Aikman — $18 million per year: Buck’s “Monday Night Football” partner signed a five-year, $90 million deal with ESPN in 2022.
- Tony Romo — approximately $18 million per year: CBS signed the former Cowboys quarterback to a 10-year, $180 million contract, one of the deals that helped reset the market for NFL broadcasters.
McAfee could soon blow past everyone on that list. He and ESPN have reportedly discussed an extension worth between $60 million and $65 million per year, although that deal has not been completed. It also would not be an apples-to-apples comparison with Buck, Brady, Aikman, or Romo because McAfee’s arrangement encompasses the larger business surrounding “The Pat McAfee Show,” including production and licensing costs, rather than simply paying him to appear on television.
The broader trend is unmistakable. Networks are spending superstar-athlete money to secure a relatively small group of broadcasters they believe can become synonymous with premium sports properties. Fox famously committed $375 million to Tom Brady, while ESPN has spent hundreds of millions securing and retaining personalities like Buck, Aikman, Smith, and McAfee.
A $183 Million ESPN Run
Buck’s new deal is particularly striking when viewed alongside the contract that brought him to ESPN in the first place. His original agreement was worth $75 million over five years, and the new extension is worth another $108 million over six. Combined, that is approximately $183 million over 11 years, or an average of roughly $16.6 million per year across the entire run.
It is also a remarkable evolution for someone who began his professional career calling minor league baseball while still in college. Buck followed his legendary father, Jack Buck, into broadcasting, joined Fox at just 25 years old, became the youngest broadcaster at the time to call a regular slate of NFL games on network television, and eventually became a fixture of both the World Series and the Super Bowl.
The next phase could bring those two halves of his career back together. ESPN is preparing to pay Buck $108 million to remain the voice of “Monday Night Football,” a deal that should keep him calling some of the NFL’s biggest games for years to come. If ESPN also manages to acquire the World Series beginning in 2029, one of baseball’s most familiar voices could end up calling October again — this time while working under one of the richest broadcasting contracts of his career.
