As Troy Aikman readies for his second season in the “Monday Night Football” booth, he’s also pondering his post-broadcasting life.
When speaking Monday on 1310 AM The Ticket, the Cowboys legend — who spent 21 years at Fox before moving to ESPN last March, along with longtime broadcast partner Joe Buck — remarked he’s “got a pretty good idea” as to when he’ll call it a career.
“I always have been [mindful] of our time being limited. … So, I posed the question to myself a lot that, you know, if you’ve got ‘X’ number of years left, what exactly do you want to do with that time?” Aikman, 56, said, according to The Dallas Morning News.
“And I go a step further — does that include broadcasting, does that include living in Texas? … But yet, I am still broadcasting and I’m still living in Dallas, and I very much love the state of Texas and I love living in Dallas, but I don’t know how much longer I’ll do it. I’ve got a pretty good idea. And not to suggest that I’m retiring anytime in the near future, but I’ve got an idea as to when I believe that I’ll retire.”
The Hall of Fame quarterback agreed to a five-year, $90 million deal with ESPN, The Post’s Andrew Marchand previously reported, with the deal running through Super Bowl 61 in 2027 — with that game set to be televised by ABC/ESPN.
Should Aikman eventually transition into a role within an organization, he believes the window of opportunity has closed in regard to a general manager post.
“There’s still a part of me, I think, that down the road — the talk has always come up about whether or not I want to be a general manager. And I think that has passed. But there may come a time that I’d be interested in just helping out with a club, with an organization, and not necessarily in an official capacity. I think that would be enjoyable,” he said.
Aikman, who made headlines earlier this month following a PDA-filled getaway with his 34-year-old gal pal, Haley Clark, elaborated on the GM possibilities in 2019 on 1310 The Ticket, stating in part, “I still believe there’s another frontier for me. It’s something that I guess I’ve always somewhat entertained.”
“I’ve had a chance to talk with [former Broncos general manager] John Elway in previous years. I’ve visited with [49ers general manager] John Lynch, and the decision that he made to take on that job in San Francisco, and I’ve said many many times, I still believe there’s another frontier for me — maybe there’s not — but I believe that there is, and I think that might very well be it. It’s something that I think would be very challenging. I’d be giving up a lot to leave the job that I have to take on a role like that. It’s an all-consuming job and I certainly recognize that, but I think the challenge would make it worthwhile.”
Aikman added at the time, “With each year that passes, the likelihood of it happening becomes less and less.”
“I understand that more and more teams want to go young and kind of groom somebody that’s gonna be there for the long haul, but relatively speaking, I’ve got a lot of great years left and I feel that having been in a championship locker room and knowing what that looks like, what that feels like, and then I guess my job now as a broadcaster, I’ve been in those organizations,” he said.
Aikman and Buck will kick off their 2023 “Monday Night Football” season on Sept. 11, when the Aaron Rodgers-led Jets host the Bills.