After an offseason in which ESPN’s Troy Aikman took on a formal advisory role with the Miami Dolphins, he will now be subject to the same restrictions as a broadcaster as Fox’s Tom Brady.
An NFL spokesperson told Front Office Sports that Aikman will join Brady in being barred from team facilities. During the week leading up to games, the two broadcasters can instead join customary production meetings virtually. And they are allowed to speak with players and coaches off-site.
The spokesperson added, per FOS, that both Aikman and Brady would theoretically be allowed to broadcast a game in which their team is playing.
“There have been no issues with Tom over the last two seasons,” the spokesperson told FOS. “It is up to the coaches and clubs what they share with him. If they share information they shouldn’t, then that’s on them.”
The report comes after Aikman revealed this week that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had approved him to continue calling games (including the upcoming Super Bowl). Goodell had also previously offered support for Brady’s unusual setup.
When Brady called the Super Bowl, the NFL relented on the restrictions. Aikman and announcing partner Joe Buck will call their seventh Super Bowl together next February.
Aikman joined on as an official advisor in Miami after helping the team with its general manager and coach search this spring. Brady is a part owner and lead executive for the Las Vegas Raiders.
As Aikman noted this week in an appearance on a podcast in Dallas, the Dolphins are not on the Monday Night Football schedule this season. Brady has not yet called a Raiders game in his first two seasons at Fox, though his presence in the Raiders’ coaches’ box during a Monday-night game was once captured by ESPN cameras.
In the same podcast interview, Aikman said that he has “no plans to leave ESPN.” Aikman’s contract is up after the season.
Both legendary quarterbacks’ dual status as broadcasters and executives is part of a larger trend that spans several leagues and networks, in which former athletes are allowed to occupy top perches as analysts while leading teams in the front office.
The post Troy Aikman will face same broadcaster restrictions as Tom Brady appeared first on Awful Announcing.