ESPN reportedly wants to replace one Pro Football Hall of Famer with another on “Monday Night Football.”
Andrew Marchand reported Tuesday that Peyton Manning is the network’s top choice to take over for Troy Aikman following the season and join Joe Buck in the broadcast booth.
Report: ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro will make “MNF” pitch to Peyton Manning
“I think Peyton is the No. 1 choice to replace Aikman, but I don’t think he is the favorite,” Marchand writes. “What does that mean? Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN’s chairman, will likely place a call to Peyton and pitch the idea of going into the booth. ESPN already has a huge contract with Manning and his Omaha Productions that includes, among other things, doing the Manningcast with his brother, Eli, for about 11 games.”
So who is the favorite?
According to Marchand and Puck’s John Ourand, it’s FOX Sports’ No. 2 analyst Greg Olsen.
Olsen, among several possibilities to replace Aikman due to Aikman’s ongoing rift with his 25-year broadcast partner, Buck, is seen as the frontrunner.
Aikman and Buck’s relationship has soured after Buck signed a six-year contract extension in September without informing Aikman.
Aikman remains an unsigned free agent and told Jimmy Traina that ESPN appears to be going in a different direction next season.
Buck and Aikman are set to call Super Bowl LXI next February.
After that, Aikman, who seems resigned to the idea that ESPN will replace him since no negotiations are underway, says it’s 50/50 that he’ll be in a broadcast booth next season.
Ty Bronicel is a veteran sports writer/editor/blogger with over 30 years of experience creating web content and has worked for world-renowned companies such as MSN, Yahoo, USA Today, and ESPN. He graduated from the University of Utah (Go Utes!) and is a Salt Lake City native who currently lives in the Beehive State. His expertise is movies and streaming shows, college football, NBA, and college basketball.
