Joe Buck & Troy Aikman Are The Best NFL Announcing Duo, Could Ultimately End The ManningCast On ESPN

ESPN spent a lot of money hiring Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to commentate their biggest property: Monday Night Football. They wanted star power. And, they got it.

Buck and Aikman are the best duo in the NFL and it's not particularly close. Sure, a lot of fans complain about the pair for various reasons. But, as someone who watches nearly every NFL game, I promise that the duo delivers the perfect balance between entertainment and analysis that everyone else tries to emulate.

The only downside for ESPN is that viewers clearly prefer Buck and Aikman to the ManningCast hosted by Eli and Peyton Manning.

Ratings are down for the ESPN ManningCast because viewers are choosing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman for Monday Night Football. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

When ESPN brought the Mannings on board, the Monday Night Football booth included Steve Levy, Louis Riddick and Brian Griese.

There's no way to sugarcoat it: that trio was downright terrible. That's part of the reason that ESPN green-lit the Mannings in the first place. It helped, too. At their peak, the Manning version of Monday Night Football brought in over 1.6 million viewers.

However, the shift to Joe Buck and Troy Aikman is sending more viewers back to the traditional broadcast.

According to Pro Football Talk, for Monday night's ManningCast (Chargers-Jets) "1.028 million chose the alternate telecast (featuring a visit from Arnold Schwarzenegger and his donkey). The Week 7 game (49ers-Vikings) had 1.068 million. For Week 5 (Packers-Raiders), the ManningCast attracted 1.036 million."

They are getting close to failing to garner one million viewers, which is not great. Especially since Peyton and Eli Manning aren't doing Monday Night Football for free.

Ratings are down for the ESPN ManningCast because viewers are choosing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman for Monday Night Football. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

So, ESPN is paying four separate broadcasters A LOT of money for these broadcasts. The Buck-Aikman version draws between 92-94% of the total Monday Night Football audience, with the rest going to the Mannings.

That's much higher than when the Mannings first started and 13% of the audience chose the ManningCast over the traditional broadcast.

The question is how long does ESPN continue offering the ManningCast at all. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman clearly don't like telling viewers to go watch another broadcast of the game they're calling.

Despite packing the ManningCast with big-name guests and forcing Buck and Aikman to promote it (seemingly against their will), viewers aren't tuning in.

If that's the case, then what's the point?

ESPN paid to get the best NFL broadcast team in the business. It's time to let them do their jobs.

Just them, not anyone else.