NFL breaks its silence on Troy Aikman and Joe Buck

Joe Buck and Troy Aikman have been one of the most stable broadcast booths in sports for more than two decades, but things have gotten a little awkward between the ESPN duo lately. Aikman's contract situation has hung over the Monday Night Football booth all season, and the two reportedly argued about it before a recent broadcast.

While it might be a massive storyline in the NFL media sphere, the NFL doesn't seem to be worried about it. On Wednesday, league chief media officer Hans Schroeder said that the NFL has "no concern" about the relationship, pointing to the pair's call of Monday night's 49ers-Commanders game as proof.

Last week, Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reported that Buck and Aikman argued ahead of ESPN's Oct. 12 Rams-Bills broadcast , after Buck raised the subject of his new contract with Aikman.

ESPN signed Buck to a significant contract extension back in September, but Aikman is in the final year of his deal, and he has not received a formal offer from the network.

Aikman didn't deny the argument, and he has made it clear that he believes ESPN is preparing to move on without him.

"It just seems to be where they're going — that they're gonna go in a different direction because there's been no talks, no contract negotiations," Aikman told Jimmy Traina, via Awful Announcing . "We're in a Super Bowl year. The Super Bowl is Feb. 14. My contract ends in March. It just doesn't seem logical that if they were gonna keep me, something wouldn't be in place before that."

And according to a report from In Touch Weekly, the argument may have been more heated than it first seemed. An anonymous source told the outlet that it "nearly got physical off air," and that the two were "very close from coming to blows."

The source also claimed that Buck "never said a word to Troy" about his new deal, calling it "the biggest betrayal anyone in the industry can remember."

If ESPN does move on, Puck's John Ourand has reported that his sources expect Greg Olsen to replace Aikman .

As the story has grown, the NFL has now officially addressed the incident. When asked about the tension on Wednesday, Schroeder pointed to Monday night's game, in which the 49ers held on for a 23-17 win over the Commanders.

"No concern. I don't know if you watched the game on Monday night. It was an incredible game, right? It was an incredible game and incredible coverage by Joe and Troy, just like they always do," Schroeder said, via Mark Maske of Front Office Sports .

Schroeder also made it clear that the league isn't going to get involved in Aikman's contract situation.

"So, look, that's something… that we're really not involved with," Schroeder said. "I think the fans are deserving of first-class game production, which Joe and Troy have, I think, going back to '02 or something was their first year, a history of doing that as well as anyone."

"And I think you'll continue to see them do that as well as anyone. I thought it was awesome Monday night. And so we're incredibly excited about the year… and the Super Bowl and their coverage," Schroeder added. "They're going to do an unbelievable job."

Buck and Aikman are set to call Super Bowl LXI for ESPN and ABC in February. It's certainly an awkward situation, but it sounds like the NFL is content with things moving forward as planned.