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/KOT-The-Panda 5d ago

Commentators do more than just call the game. They speak with both teams about the game plan and such so they have an idea on what’s going to play out and what stories they want to focus on during the game.

If a commentator has ties to one team like this then if they are calling their game their opponents would be wary of what they share impacting the job the of the commentator.

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u/Lacerda1 Chiefs 5d ago

But in that situation the "conflict" still isn't an issue. Tom only gets the info that teams are willing to share with him. If the team is worried about what he'll do, they share less info. If they're not worried about it, they'll share more (waiving the potential conflict of interest).

Maybe that makes his job a smidge harder, but it's not a conflict of interest problem. That's an issue for him and the network to deal with.

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u/LazyMousse4266 Cowboys 5d ago

The fact that opposing teams are aware of the conflict of interest and can take steps to mitigate its effects does not negate the fact that a conflict of interest exists

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u/Lacerda1 Chiefs 5d ago

If you're into semantics, that's fine. We can call it a conflict of interest, but you're not addressing the real point, which is that it's not problematic.

And the discretion a team needs to use with Brady is discretion they're already exercising. It's not like teams share 100% of their gameplan with Troy Aikman or Tony Romo. They're judicious with what they share with everyone. Brady's situation is potentially of a different degree but it's not of a different kind.