Troy Aikman will be on the payroll this winter helping the Miami Dolphins in their search for a new general manager.
The news, which was broken by Aikman’s ESPN colleague Adam Schefter this week, comes as Aikman prepares to call a Week 18 game that will decide the NFC West, and then a postseason game the following Monday.
But in a statement published by Front Office Sports, an ESPN spokesperson said that Aikman’s new advisory gig does not pose any challenges for his work at the Worldwide Leader.
“It doesn’t interfere with his responsibilities with us,” ESPN told Front Office Sports. “His schedule remains unchanged.”
Typically, the head coach and GM carousels begin spinning immediately after the final game of the regular season. The Dolphins fired Chris Grier on Oct. 31.
FOS also reported that Aikman’s role in Miami is “temporary,” meaning he is not expected to work in the team’s front office under the new GM he hires.
However, FOS noted that the new dynamic around Aikman is the latest signal that “conflict of interest concerns usually don’t apply to the biggest sports TV personalities.”
From Aikman and Fox’s Tom Brady on the NFL side to NBC’s Grant Hill (a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks and managing director for USA Basketball) and Prime Video’s Udonis Haslem (VP of basketball development for the Miami Heat) on the NBA side, many top analysts also hold executive or ownership roles within the teams they cover.
These analysts must balance their allegiance to the team that employs them with the audience’s expectations of fair and balanced analysis on-air.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.