Troy Aikman is indirectly responsible for Tom Brady taking his talents to Fox.
On the “Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast,” reporters Andrew Marchand and John Ourand spoke on how the Tom Brady deal came about and how Troy Aikman being so open to leaving led them to the huge deal with the future hall of fame QB.
Marchand said the money kept “escalating and escalating” for Brady until he gave them the answer they wanted.
“When Troy Aikman wanted to get out of his contract, and started talking with Amazon, and started talking with ESPN, and made it public — he would answer any question that was sent his way — it irritated the folks at Fox,” Ourand explained.
“As soon as he started to make those entreaties, it wasn’t just that Tom Brady was on a list. They started talking to him. Tom Brady was deciding between going back and playing football, or going to Fox.”
Last January, Aikman publicly talked about how his time with Fox might be coming to an end and even stated that the NFC Championship game could be his last with the network.
“It could be, yeah. I don’t anticipate that but it could be,” Aikman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in January.
He even mentioned Amazon as a possibility.
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“Those conversations are happening now,” Aikman said. “And I’m really being as honest as I can be about it. I really don’t know what it’s gonna look like when it’s all said and done and it does get settled. As to whether I’ll be working for Fox and Amazon, whether I’ll just be working for Fox or whether I’ll just be working for Amazon. I really don’t know what might happen.”
It was comments and other ones like them that Ourand stated irritated Fox. Their irritation led to giving Brady 10 years at a total of $375 million.
