College Football HQ

FOX swapped Joe Buck to ESPN for one Big Ten football game, per report

How much was Joe Buck worth to FOX? About one Big Ten football game, according to a new report.

James Parks

FOX swapped Joe Buck to ESPN for one Big Ten football game, per report
FOX swapped Joe Buck to ESPN for one Big Ten football game, per report /

NFL teams have used the offseason to trade players and draft picks, but it appears ESPN traded an entire college football game to get Joe Buck on its airwaves.

FOX permitted Buck to leave their network a year early to join Troy Aikman at ESPN to call Monday Night Football in exchange for the broadcast rights to a single Big Ten football game: Penn State vs. Purdue, according to a report from Sports Business Journal.

While being traded for a Big Ten game may not sound like much, it appears FOX will be able to turn the deal into a small fortune.

"Because it's a new window in a new game, [FOX is] going to be able to sell an added ad sales revenue target that's in the millions," SBJ's John Ourand said. "They're going to make millions off this."

Buck had one year remaining on his FOX contract at an estimated $11 million, according to the New York Post's Andrew Marchand. His new deal at ESPN is reported at five years and between $60 million and $75 million.

It was because of that last year on his original contract that Buck couldn't leave FOX and join Aikman on Monday Night Football. This new deal between the broadcasters allowed Buck to get out of the first contract and make the move.

Ourand reported that ESPN had a number of games ready for the Sept. 1 broadcast window to kick off the college football season, but didn't have as much use for the Penn State vs. Purdue game as FOX would have.

"I don't want to say [the] deal is a win-win, because they're almost never win-win, but this is a game ESPN didn't prioritize," Ourand said.

"This is a game FOX really did want, and each network has 27 [Big Ten] games this year coming up. ESPN is going to have 26 Big Ten games. FOX is going to have 28 Big Ten games. And that is what they came up with in order for Joe Buck to leave his contract early and move to ESPN."

Aikman, a Pro Football Hall of Famer who worked with Buck since 2002, joined ESPN on a reported five-year deal worth $92.5 million.

The Buck-Aikman move wasn't the only blockbuster change in the broadcast booth this offseason. Al Michaels also moved from NBC's Sunday Night Football to Amazon, where he'll call Thursday Night Football games alongside Kirk Herbstreit, who will also work college football games for ESPN.

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He previously covered football for 247Sports and CBS Interactive. College Football HQ joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022.

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