Joe Buck agrees to six-year ESPN extension worth more than $100 million
ESPN has signed Monday Night Football voice Joe Buck to a six-year extension worth more than $100 million, raising his annual salary from roughly $15 million to $18 million. The deal carries through ESPN's first Super Bowl broadcast in February 2027 and extends through 2031. Troy Aikman remains unsigned as his contract winds toward expiration.
ESPN has signed Joe Buck to a six-year extension worth more than $100 million, according to Awful Announcing. The deal lifts Buck's annual salary from roughly $15 million to $18 million and spans from now through 2031, carrying past ESPN's first Super Bowl broadcast scheduled for February 2027.
Buck joined ESPN in 2022 alongside Troy Aikman after 20 seasons as Fox's flagship NFL booth pairing, matching the record set by Pat Summerall and John Madden for the longest-running booth partnership in NFL history. At $18 million annually, Buck will trail only Stephen A. Smith's $21 million salary at ESPN, per Awful Announcing's reporting.
The extension signals ESPN's commitment to its Monday Night Football package through the next cycle of league broadcasting rights. ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro is reportedly circling World Series broadcast rights coming up for grabs in 2029 and has indicated to Buck that he would want him calling the series.
Beyond football, ESPN has tapped Buck to guest-host Good Morning America and front a sports-flavored version of Jeopardy! on Disney+. When the extension expires in 2031, Buck will be 63 and will have called eight Super Bowls across Fox and ESPN combined, according to Awful Announcing, though he trails Al Michaels and Summerall's all-time mark of 11 Super Bowls each.
Buck previously told media reporter Richard Deitsch that he hoped ESPN would be his final stop and said he would sign a new contract "without even looking at it" if one were handed to him. The extension honors that sentiment while leaving his booth partner's status unresolved. Troy Aikman remains unsigned as his own deal winds toward expiration, per Awful Announcing's reporting. Pat McAfee's ongoing extension talks are reportedly in the $60 million to $65 million range, though that figure reflects production costs for The Pat McAfee Show rather than McAfee's personal take-home pay.
Buck's new $18 million annual salary trails only Stephen A. Smith's $21 million at ESPN, making him the network's second-highest-paid talent.
ESPN has locked in one half of its Monday Night Football booth through 2031, but Troy Aikman's unsigned status means the network still faces a key decision on whether and how to retain its second-highest-profile voice at the position. The extension also sets up competing salary expectations: what Aikman's deal will command, and whether McAfee's actual compensation exceeds the publicly reported production figures.
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Also reported by The New York Times, Awful Announcing, USA Today, New York Post. Independent coverage of the same development, found by search; not this story's sources.
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