Troy Aikman and Joe Buck on FOX, Tony Romo with Jim Nantz on CBS and Cris Collinsworth partnered with Al Michaels on NBC, football fans have three elite primetime broadcast pairings to listen to, but for how much longer?
The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand previously reported Romo will seek a big pay increase next year and could be recruited by ESPN to join the Monday Night Football booth. Another former Cowboys quarterback, Troy Aikman recently discussed his future which included aspirations away from broadcasting.
While his analyst role on FOX has been great for Aikman in his post-playing days, the three-time Super Bowl Champion believes there might be a third career on tap. Aikman has been critical of the Cowboys and the way they’ve operated under Jerry Jones, and he’s simultaneously interested in a general manager type position.
“It’s something that I guess I’ve always somewhat entertained,” Aikman said Tuesday during his weekly spot with The Musers on 1310 The Ticket. “I’ve had a chance to talk with John Elway in previous years, I’ve visited with John Lynch and the decision that he made to take on that job in San Francisco, and I’ve said many many times, I still believe there’s another frontier for me — maybe there’s not — but I believe that there is, and I think that might very well be it. It’s something that I think would be very challenging. I’d be giving up a lot to leave the job that I have to take on a role like that. It’s an all-consuming job and I certainly recognize that, but I think the challenge would make it worthwhile.
“Now whether or not I’m ever afforded that opportunity, we’ll see, but with each year that passes, the likelihood of it happening becomes less and less,” Aikman continued. “I understand that more and more teams want to go young and kind of groom somebody that’s gonna be there for the long haul, but relatively speaking, I’ve got a lot of great years left and I feel that having been in a championship locker room and knowing what that looks like, what that feels like, and then I guess my job now as a broadcaster, I’ve been in those organizations.”
Understanding the unlikelihood of landing a position with Jerry Jones and the Cowboys, Aikman seemed open to opportunities with other organizations. Aikman noted John Lynch, who went directly from broadcasting to the 49ers front office, similarly Mike Mayock shifted from being an NFL Network analyst to the Raiders general manager position one year ago.
This isn’t the first time Aikman mentioned an interest of leaving the broadcast booth to operate an NFL franchise. In January, the FOX NFL analyst discussed his general manager aspirations with Kimberly Martin of Yahoo Sports.
Aikman also mentioned the difficult nature of the GM position and understands he would potentially need to work his way up the ranks with an NFL team. Still, it would likely take a prominent front office role to lure Aikman away from his analyst job on FOX, a gig he is exceptional at.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here
