Ryan Clark Accuses ESPN Of Playing Dirty As Troy Aikman’s $90 Million Contract Nears Its End

Ryan Clark believes ESPN is trying to make Troy Aikman the villain in its contract dispute.© Image via X/@nfl

Troy Aikman may be calling his last season for ESPN. His contract ends after this year, the network has offered no extension, and his partner Joe Buck already holds a $108 million deal. Former ESPN analyst Ryan Clark says he has seen this script before. He believes Aikman is being painted as the villain in a story the network helped write. The best-known booth in football is cracking in public, and how ESPN handles it will shape its NFL coverage for years

Troy Aikman's Contract Status At ESPN

Aikman is in the final year of a five-year, $90 million deal. Reports say ESPN finalized Buck's extension months before it became public, and that Aikman did not know. He reportedly took it as a betrayal. The two also had a heated exchange at SoFi Stadium before the Rams-Bills game, and Buck reportedly told him he was not the reason Aikman lacked a contract.

Aikman has spoken openly about where he stands. "I don't know if it's hard to figure out kind of what happened," Aikman said on 96.7 The Ticket. "I'll broadcast through this season, and I'll be a free agent at the end of the year and kind of see what happens. I'm looking forward to whatever the rest of this season does hold and the Super Bowl and all that, and where my next landing spot may be."

Ryan Clark's View On ESPN And Joe Buck

Clark speaks with some authority here. ESPN fired him in July, and he says the network once asked him to drop The Pivot Podcast and Inside the NFL during contract talks. On The Pivot, he argued that Aikman and Buck have earned their reputation as the league's top broadcast pair.

"You mentioned the leaks. I've been around there. I know how it starts to happen when they're trying to build a narrative about you. … I do feel like there is a push to make him be the bad guy, whether he is or not. … This is not about, in my opinion, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. This is about the business, and it's about business being done dirty. I want to see them continue."

Clark is not alone. Bill Simmons and Stephen A. Smith have both said the duo should stay together. If Aikman reaches free agency, rival networks will almost certainly notice. A broadcaster with 25 years of big-game chemistry does not stay on the market long.