Joe Buck opted to leave Fox and continue working with Troy Aikman at ESPN, but not before he was offered Greg Olsen and Tom Brady as potential broadcast partners.
Buck joined the latest Yankees News and Views podcast episode hosted by YES Network’s Jack Curry. And while discussing his decision to give up being the voice of Major League Baseball and the World Series, Buck shared part of Fox’s pitch to keep him.
According to Buck, he was already thinking about giving up baseball near the end of his tenure with Fox, but that decision was accelerated by Aikman leaving for ESPN. Faced with the decision of whether to leave his network home of nearly three decades and follow Aikman to ESPN or find another NFL partner, Fox attempted to sell Buck on working with Olsen or Brady.
“When Troy bailed and went to ESPN I knew eventually, it was probably just going to be football,” Buck said. “And everything I said about Troy earlier, 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. Little did I know how great Greg Olsen was going to be, and he’s fantastic. And they flashed Tom Brady in front of me. I went for the known quantity, and I’m glad I did.”
Buck did not say whether one option appealed to him more as he weighed staying at Fox with a new broadcast partner against rejoining Aikman at ESPN. While the opportunity to work alongside Brady surely would have been enticing, Buck was among the many who expressed doubt over the seven-time Super Bowl champion ever actually calling a game for Fox, even after he signed a $375 million contract to be their top analyst.
As much as Brady boasts star power, it would have been hard for Buck to pass up working with Aikman for the unknown that is Tom Brady as a broadcaster. But what if Buck prioritized staying at Fox and selected Olsen as his partner? Brady may never have received the $375 million contract offer from Fox.
Ultimately, Buck decided to rejoin Aikman at ESPN, a choice that seems to have been the right one. When you have a broadcast partner who you enjoy working alongside and achieved success with, it’s hard to give that up. It’s part of the reason the Inside the NBA crew is desperately attempting to figure out a way to stick together. Whether it’s a broadcast booth, radio or TV show, rarely does a successful duo split up and achieve equal success with a second partner.
