Joe Buck Turns Down ESPN’s Offer Away From NFL After Declaring His Retirement Stance

Upon signing with ESPN in 2022 as the lead play-by-play commentator on Monday Night Football, Joe Buck received another offer to call MLB games. He has spent decades covering the MLB. But surprisingly, Buck turned it down, shifting his entire focus to the NFL. But even after turning away from baseball, the chances kept on coming. During a recent appearance on Sports Media with Richard Deitsch, Buck recalled an incident when he turned down ESPN’s offer to call a baseball game.

“NBC has the Wild Card, so I’m not going to be doing that,” said Joe Buck to Richard Deitsch. “That was on the table last year, if it was something that I wanted to do. When ESPN had their games in the early round, it just was at a bad time.”

ESPN has agreed to a three-year current contract with MLB, valued at $550 million. It is a new package that includes 30 exclusive weeknight games, local broadcast rights for six league-controlled teams, and control of MLB.tv within its direct-to-consumer app. The Sunday Night Baseball and the Wild Card Round games went to NBC after 26 years. However, ESPN’s last contract with the MLB was different.

While the valuation was the same, ESPN had the rights to Sunday Night Baseball, the Wild Card round, the Home Run Derby, and Opening Night. That is when the network offered Buck an opportunity to call a Wild Card Round game. But he declined it since it would have been hectic for him. Calling a Denver Broncos game on Monday Night Football and then doing the same for MLB the next day was next to impossible.

“We were doing a Broncos game, and I would’ve had to do the old stuff — leave in the middle of the night, go do a Tuesday night game after Monday Night Football,” said Buck.

But why did Buck decline such a great opportunity? The Emmy winner has spent more than two decades with FOX, covering 24 World Series. When he left FOX and signed with ESPN in 2022, he did not want to do the same thing again. Despite loving the sport, he wanted to spend his time calling football games.

“And believe me, I’m the luckiest guy in the world; I wrote a book about that, that I got to do any of it. But I just feel like that’s a chapter of my life that really it’s an itch that doesn’t need to be scratched anymore. I’ve done all that stuff,” Buck said.

Following his signing with ESPN, the network tried to get him to the box for a baseball game in 2022. But he had other plans. Last spring, ESPN’s senior VP of production Mark Gross, who works closely with Buck on Monday Night Football, asked him about Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. Buck hesitantly answered yes. It seemed it was over between him and baseball, only for him to call the Mets vs. Dodgers game the following Wednesday. Amid all the baseball drama, the commentator also revealed his retirement stance a few days ago, with only a year remaining in his contract with ESPN.

Football Joe Buck gets real about his contract situation

Back in March 2022, ESPN signed one of FOX’s top voices, Joe Buck, on a five-year deal. His average salary was around $12 to $15 million. Now, he has only one year left in his contract. Following Super Bowl LXI in February, his contract will expire. But in his recent interview with Richard Deitsch, he revealed that he wants to continue at ESPN until retirement.

“If you reached through my computer screen right now and handed me a contract to continue my time at ESPN, I would sign it without even looking at it,” said Joe Buck in an interview with the Sports Business Journal on April 10. “I’ve loved every second of it, and I am hopeful that I’m at ESPN for the rest of my career.”

Buck is the lead play-by-play announcer for Monday Night Football alongside former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman. He loves his present job and does not want to retire so early. Currently 56, the commentator believes he still has years left in his tank. Considering former ESPN commentators like Tom Jackson and Mark Jones retired at 69 and 64, respectively, Buck likely has at least another decade in broadcasting.

While rumors of his signing with a rival network have surfaced, Buck has completely discredited them. He is even ready to work a different shift if that allows him to work for ESPN. Moreover, he has been a major success for ESPN as well. His and Aikman’s partnership has helped the average viewership increase to 15.4 million in 2023. It was a 14% increase from the previous year. In 2024, the number further increased to 17.2 million, which was the network’s highest viewership since 2015. Surprisingly, Aikman’s contract is also going to expire along with Buck’s.

Besides, the 8-time Emmy Winner even won the 2026 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the 2026 Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame for his outstanding work. While no formal negotiations have begun, there is still time for the network to offer him an extension. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that ESPN would let two of its best voices leave.