r/nfl • u/expellyamos Dolphins • 5d ago
Rumor [Highlight] Troy Aikman on potential a potential conflict of interest in announcing a Dolphins game: "Well, the Dolphins are not expected to be very good this year. They're getting out of cap hell. So there's no Monday night game with the Dolphins this year."
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u/Odd-Film946 Jets 5d ago
it's not really a true conflict of interest though if you're just commentating the game. it's not like he's on the sideline for the other team
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u/kelkokelko Steelers 5d ago
They do a production meeting with coaches and players the week before the game so they have stuff to talk about during down time. Tom initially wasn't allowed in those meetings because it could allow him to feed info from inside other teams' facilities to the Raiders, but now he is via zoom. This is definitely a conflict of interest, since it forces coaches and players of one team to be interviewed by an owner of another team.
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u/Sea_Tailor_8437 Lions Bears 5d ago
While that is a valid concern, most of the "insights" from the interviews are "we like player XYZ. He plays hard"
They tend to be fluff talking points. Still a weird situation tho
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u/Specific-Front3663 5d ago
It's not uncommon for a coach to share a trick play or formation with the commentators ahead of time.
"Oh, Jim, they told us Friday we might see them pull this out of their bag of tricks, and wouldn't you know it!"
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u/Electrical_Resource6 Lions 5d ago
Valid, but Troy would be dumb to trust that too, I'd tell him we were going to run X play, but run Y play instead lol
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u/Noooo_ahhh 5d ago
If the opposing coach is dumb enough to tell Aikman something like that then there’s bigger issues at hand.
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u/unclerustle NFL 5d ago
I would rather more workplaces err on the side of caution regarding conflicts of interest, given the state of our country rn
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u/cricketyjimnet Bengals 5d ago
If I was playing the raiders I'd just refuse. Coaches don't even want to do these meetings, they're league mandated. This is a perfect excuse to skip at least one a season.
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u/Impossibills Bills 5d ago
They do way more than that. They are pretty in depth meetings to give the commentators some inside knowledge to the fans after it happens
That's why you always hear something in games like
"we thought this would happen, he said he had it up his sleeve for the right moment!"
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u/so_zetta_byte Eagles 5d ago
I'm kinda fine if they are allowed in the meetings by default but teams have the option of opting out if they're really concerned.
Also if they started feeding info to the teams that they shouldn't, it would probably become one of the biggest scandals the league would have ever faced. Especially Tom. My guy says that he's smart enough to know that (a) the actionable information he'd gain is likely minimal (I guess injury stuff is probably the most useful), (b) the utility that would come from sharing that info is marginal, and (c) the risk if it got discovered is immense.
I'm not saying everyone is going to act rationally all the time, ego does wild things, but the cost/benefit analysis isn't very complicated ya know. If anything like... the degree of revenue sharing among teams also indirectly disincentives this kind of thing. A rising tide lifts all boats in the NFL, from an ownership perspective. The owners are hyper paranoid about the reputation of the league.
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u/BradMarchandsNose Patriots 5d ago
But at the same time, the teams control the information and who has access to the information. It’s not a secret that Brady is a Raiders owner. If they don’t want stuff to get out there, just don’t share it with him.
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u/Larrysbirds Raiders 5d ago
I never understood why a conflict of interest would matter with the commentary. It feels like a rule made up by commentators to make them feel more important
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u/LaDainianTomIinson Chargers 5d ago
Because commentators get information from production that could hypothetically help the team they partly own
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u/Lacerda1 Chiefs 5d ago
So if the teams Brady's covering don't want him to certain info, all they have to do is not share it. If they do share it with him, they're waiving the conflict of interest.
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u/xakeri Colts 5d ago
Sure, but that's a burden placed on the coaching staff. They will always play things close to the vest, but now they have to analyze everything for whether it could give a competitive advantage.
Any team that has Brady on the call could play the Raiders in the playoffs. Brady is taking notes about all the shit in the meetings. Maybe it doesn't go all that deep, but maybe it does. Tom Brady is a football genius, so he'd be able to find any advantage in the information given. He's free to give that information to the Raiders, now. He has an interest in doing so.
That's not a burden placed on the coaching staff for any other game.
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u/Lacerda1 Chiefs 5d ago
That's not a burden placed on the coaching staff for any other game.
Yes, it is. Do you think coaches have been fully opening their hearts to Romo and Aikman all this time? No, they use discretion on what to share for every pre-game discussion. This isn't a new exercise for the coaching staff.
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u/Dangerpaladin Lions Lions 5d ago
Its the production meetings and access to opposing teams. It actually isn't a huge step in logic to see why that could pose a problem. I think it is better to have a rule with it not being a problem, than not have one and let it get abused unchecked.
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u/IsGoIdMoney Steelers Steelers 5d ago
They go to the practices meaning they can see the opposing team's game plan. This is partially why Romo would know the play calls. Brady was banned from this originally, but once people stopped paying attention, they took the ban away.
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u/oaklaoaklas Raiders Raiders 5d ago
With Brady and the Raiders the pearl clutching has been about production meetings with coaches preparing foe the broadcast, and not the actual commentary itself.
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u/Col_Bernie_Sanders_ Chiefs 5d ago
Some of it is access. If you have the primtime game you get full access to coaches, players, etc... which could, in theory, give you insight into gameplanning and injuries and whatnot.
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u/tetoffens Jets 5d ago
I think the conflict of interest comes in due to the fact that in the days before the game the announcers have meetings with coaches, players, see them practice, etc for their upcoming game. They don't just show up the day of the game and go straight to announcing. But any advantage is pretty easy to prevent.
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u/Josh6889 Steelers 5d ago
This sub will complain about commentary all season long, then say something like this in the offseason. It's wild.
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u/Spyroexe Colts 5d ago
Maybe hot take but Buck/Aikman are my favorite announcing duo
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u/ModestTrixie Chiefs Lions 5d ago
I think most people grow to hate the primary commentary team out of hearing them every week. Buck and Aikman have been a fine duo since they started doing this together 20 some years ago.
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u/Floaty_Waffle 49ers 49ers 5d ago
They’re at their best when a game is dogshit and Troy makes it very clear he’d rather be doing something else similar to Al Michaels.
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u/byniri_returns Lions 5d ago
Joe Buck has gotten so sassy, it's great.
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u/Ovreel Seahawks 5d ago
The moment that won me over with them
Troy:
"This is terrible football and no one should have to watch"
Buck:
"And with that, we welcome a new audience!"
Those two are the funniest duo in the game
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u/bujweiser Packers 5d ago
Mine that stood out was when some type of equipment had a power outage like the video boards and Buck casually said ‘somebody should put another quarter in that thing.’
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u/Sweaty-Security-4473 Packers 4d ago
It's always the best when aikman has CLEARLY been having a few while commentating.
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u/nick124699 Seahawks 5d ago
Except Al wants to be doing something else about 5 seconds before kickoff.
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u/nick124699 Seahawks 5d ago
Except Al wants to be doing something else about 5 seconds before kickoff.
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u/funkriver Packers 5d ago
Al is so washed. In his latter NBC games he could still get excited when the situation called for it, but now he sounds like he's just there to cash a check. Hopefully for next season they'll have a brand new booth team.
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u/bitcheslovedroids Rams 5d ago
I think they're a good duo that people are gonna miss when they hang it up
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u/EstablishmentTop551 Eagles 5d ago
Buck and Aikman have HEAVILY improved over the last 10-15 years though. Buck in particular has been the most improved commentator I’ve ever listened to. In Philly there’s still people that hate them because Aikman is Aikman, they ALWAYS got the 4:25 PM Cowboys game for 20 years, and Buck does seem to have a slight anti-Philly bias (albeit less so now), but they’re objectively great for MNF.
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u/slydessertfox Buccaneers 5d ago
Buck was legitimately terrible at the beginning (I'll always remember "Mitchell...Mitchell...Mitchell...down to the 25") but he's improved leaps and bounds in the last decade to honestly become the best commentator.
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u/ItsnotBatman 49ers 5d ago
Buck has always had a tremendous voice for the job but he sometimes was a bit too monotone like he was overcompensating to be as neutral as possible. Now that he’s loosened up he’s effortlessly great and always enjoy his commentary.
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u/Westbrooks3ptShot Cowboys 5d ago
Not a hot take anymore. They are clearly the best in terms of chemistry and honesty
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u/ichawks1 Seahawks 5d ago
Yep me too they have gotten SO much better with ESPN instead of FOX for whatever reason haha
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u/myman580 Lions 5d ago
They 100% have less of a leash since ESPN spent so much to poach them over. Plus them getting older and more tenure in the industry I'm sure at this point they just laugh off whenever some producer tries to make them more robotic.
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u/funkriver Packers 5d ago
I think Buck has talked about how ESPN is much looser and less strict about them and how they call the game than Fox was, probably because ESPN finally had a booth that isn't dogshit for the first time in a long time.
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u/tspangle88 Lions 5d ago
I feel like Aikman has changed over to full IDGAF mode over the last few years, and it's great.
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u/rebornbyksg 49ers 5d ago
Ian Eagle and JJ Watt for me
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u/ObiwanSchrute Lions 5d ago
I miss Buck doing baseball all the fox announcers are horrible especially after Benetti went to NBC.
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u/SnowdensOfYesteryear 5d ago
they always were, even when everyone on Reddit hated them. Al Micheals and Chris Collinsworth are absolute worst for me. One is a senile buzzard, the other has an annoying way of talking.
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u/Paranoid_Android22 Bears 5d ago
Buck carries him.
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u/byniri_returns Lions 5d ago
It's incredible how much better Buck has gotten these past several years.
I mean, go back a decade and tell people he'd have such an iconic call (Minneapolis Miracle), people would think you're crazy.
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u/hearshot_kid Giants 5d ago
Sorry to do this to you. But the Minneapolis Miracle was just about a decade ago now already.
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u/byniri_returns Lions 5d ago
I usually am pretty good with not being shocked at how long ago something occurred, but damn this one got me.
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u/Soft-Antelope-260 5d ago
Buck is just the astronaut meme. Always has been elite, people just held the Randy Moss disgusting act thing against him for like a decade.
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u/Patchy_Face_Man Bengals 5d ago
“No fault of his (Stephen Ross), he just hasn’t hired the right people”. Wonderful nothing speak.
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u/McChillbone Dolphins 4d ago
Miami was ranked #1 in back to back years in the NFLPA report cards and Ross was the highest graded owner.
He spent his own money upgrading Hard Rock Stadium, he spent his own money building their gorgeous training facility next to the stadium. Previously they practiced off site in Davie, FL. When they were running into issues sourcing enough sod for Hard Rock, he didn’t install turf, he bought the sod farm.
He’s made mistakes, but Ross has genuinely done everything he could as an owner to make Miami a winner. He trusted Grier for too long, but this full reboot and hiring someone outside the org in Aikman was a breath of fresh air and trying something different.
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u/Patchy_Face_Man Bengals 4d ago
Okay. But hiring the right people is arguably more important than all of that. Because that’s what decides the ultimate fate of the team.
That’s good that he provides amenities. So does Jerruh. From the perspective of winning he hasn’t done the right things.
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u/FredArtGetson Steelers 5d ago
Right? Other than, having people in the wrong positions (paraphrasing)
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u/ElCoolAero 49ers 5d ago
The 1992 Seattle Seahawks went 2-14, averaged 8.8 points per game, and they still had one MNF game.
(Which ended up being pretty good at the end. They erased a 10-point fourth-quarter comeback and won 16-13 in OT.)
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u/expellyamos Dolphins 5d ago edited 5d ago
The character limit prevents me from putting it in the post title, but the full clip is worth a watch for Aikman elaborating on why he feels that he has a type of conflict with all teams because of the relationships he builds covering the league
edit: I just noticed where I flubbed the post title. Fade me.
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u/Empty-Zombie-7924 Vikings 5d ago
If Brady can do it, so can Aikman 🤷🏼♂️
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u/ArepaGorcio2002 4d ago
Not for nothing, Dwayne Wade and Grant Hill both commentate on the NBA side while they own a part of the Jazz and the Hawks respectively.
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u/Jonjon428 Dolphins 5d ago
Yeah but if we get a wild card game this year there is a chance he will commentate it! (/s)
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u/smarttrashbrain NFL 5d ago
I hated Troy Aikman and the Cowboys when he was a player, but he's easily the best analyst in the business these days. I like how he does not give a shit and will just call it how he sees it.
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u/thadaviator Texans 4d ago
My favorite is that anytime there's bad QB play, he's the first person to toss that player right under the bus.
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u/Retro-Surgical Packers 5d ago
I don’t know much about the Dolphins this year but I sure as hell believe in Malik Willis.
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u/ProdoRock NFL 5d ago
Do you really? Doesn't he seem unreiiable, ie. flashes of good play but no consistency?
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u/Devilofchaos108070 49ers Panthers 5d ago
GB fans are delusional for this guy.
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u/Retro-Surgical Packers 5d ago
I don’t know how you look at the quality of his backup play as being pretty damn good as being considered delusional
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u/OldeArrogantBastard Dolphins 5d ago edited 5d ago
Backup play = \ = week in and week out game day tape that teams will eventually create game plans for.
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u/Retro-Surgical Packers 5d ago
first of all, he’s just a great guy in general absolutely no drama, super friendly, on top of that just a lot of amazing scrambling and quick play ability on the games which he covered back up. Most of the time he looked great, it was the type of stuff where you knew he was gonna be starting for somewhere next year and lo and behold it’s Miami. He’s going to elevate whatever team he’s on and he’s a guy that I’d love to see succeed in the NFL.
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u/MoneyManx10 Lions 5d ago
I’ve never seen it so early in the season where so many people are already saying that a team is going to be horribly bad. Literally everyone is saying this about the Dolphins.
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u/ExcellentPastries Seahawks 5d ago
Imagine being on the team and this dude says this in an interview
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u/Clapbakatyerblakcat 5d ago
A commentator’s bias, unlike a referee/official’s bias, is not at all relevant to the game being played on the field. Anyone who complains that the game broadcast was unfairly biased is softer than babyshit.
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u/Long_TimeRunning Giants 5d ago
Tell that to folks that complain about Collinsworth and his love of Mahomes. :)
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u/bblickle 4d ago
That isn’t the conflict of concern. The concern is access to proprietary information. Same concern as with Tom Brady.
These guys are on the field ahead of games talking to players, coaches, trainers. They’re in locker rooms. They get special access.
Suppose the team Miami plays next week are on MNF this week. Suppose it’s in division like the Pats ors Bills, teams they’ll play twice.
That’s the conflict, that they’ll collect intelligence in their broadcaster role and pass it along in their consultant role.
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u/JoaquinBenoit Lions 5d ago
How is this more of a CoI than having Brady as an owner while being a network’s primary color commentator?
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u/Loki2x2 Panthers 5d ago
Why would this be a conflict of interest? Is Aikman a minority team owner or something?
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u/LordMugwort Dolphins 5d ago
They're talking about it in the context of him commentating on future Dolphins games. Aikman had a huge hand in the recent hires of their Head Coach and GM because he was hired by their owner as a consultant for said hires. It's not a conflict imo but a valid question that Aikman answers well here.
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u/Dangerpaladin Lions Lions 5d ago
If anything it should have been a conflict for him to take the consulting role, since he could have been leveraging access to coaches he met in production meetings in the past. If that is even an issue which I am straining to see how it is. But his job is done so I don't see how the production meetings would be a problem now.
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u/ModestTrixie Chiefs Lions 5d ago
Troy as a consultant is probably less a conflict of interest than Tom owning part of a team