Joe Buck decided to leave Fox and continue working with Troy Aikman at ESPN, but not before being offered Greg Olsen and Tom Brady as possible broadcast partners.
Buck joined the latest Yankees News and Views Podcast Episode hosted by Jack Curry of the YES Network. And while discussing his decision to give up his voice for Major League Baseball and the World Series, Buck shared some of Fox’s reasoning for keeping him.
Buck said he was already considering leaving baseball toward the end of his tenure at Fox, but that decision was accelerated by Aikman’s move to ESPN. Before deciding whether to leave the network he had worked at for nearly three decades and follow Aikman to ESPN or find another NFL partner, Fox tried to convince Buck to work with either Olsen or Brady.
“When Troy left and went to ESPN, I knew it was probably going to be football at the end of the day,” Buck said. “And everything I said before about Troy was I didn’t want to lose. And I didn’t want to start over in my mid-50s with somebody else and build that with an unknown. They flashed Greg Olsen in front of me. I didn’t know how great Greg Olsen was going to be, and he’s fantastic. And they flashed Tom Brady in front of me. I went with the known quantity and I’m glad I did.”
Buck did not say whether he preferred an option as he weighed staying at Fox with a new broadcast partner or returning to Aikman at ESPN. While the possibility of working with Brady would certainly have been enticing, Buck was one of many who expressed doubts about whether the seven-time Super Bowl champion would ever commentate on a game for Fox, even after signing a $375 million contract as a top analyst.
Even though Brady boasts star power, it would have been hard for Buck to give up working with Aikman in favor of the unknown Tom Brady as a sportscaster. But what if Buck chose to stay at Fox and choose Olsen as his partner? Brady might never have received Fox’s $375 million contract offer.
Ultimately, Buck decided to rejoin Aikman at ESPN, a decision that seems to have proven to be the right one. When you have a broadcast partner you enjoy working with and are having success with, it is hard to give that up. That is one of the reasons why the Insights into the NBA The crew desperately tries to find a way to stick together. Whether it’s a broadcast booth, a radio show or a TV show, it’s rare that a successful duo splits up and achieves the same success with a second partner.
(JA Network)
