Erin Costa / CC
BRISTOL, CT (WSAU) — ESPN announced on Thursday that they have shaken up the sports media landscape in a big way, luring announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman away from FOX to become the new voices of the storied Monday Night Football franchise.
The duo is said to be costing the four-letter network in the area of $25 million annually, with both signing multi-year contracts. In exchange for letting Buck out of his deal one year early, FOX will get an additional first-choice selection of Big Ten football games for the upcoming season (FOX and ESPN/ABC rotate the first selection of games weekly).
The pair will call their first regular-season game for ESPN on September 12th, which will also mark the start of their 21st season together. That will tie them with the late duo of Pat Summerall and John Madden, who worked together at both CBS and FOX.
The move leaves FOX without its lead sportscaster. Buck has been the voice of the World Series on FOX since the early 2000s and has called multiple Super Bowls along with PGA Tour events during FOX’s brief acquisition of those.
FOX is slated to broadcast two of the next three Super Bowls.
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