O'Donnell: Aikman bolting to ESPN/ABC Monday night is accelerating NFL broadcast dominoes
TROY AIKMAN IS APPARENTLY SWITCHING, Sean McVay was reportedly sniffing and two weeks after Super Bowl 56, the NFL refuses to come down from the TV marquee.
Changes in the league's major network broadcast booths are wheeling through the air.
And where the wheeling will stop, right now, nobody knows.
News that Aikman will be leaving Fox after 21 seasons to become ESPN/ABC's "Monday Night Football" analyst is a blockbuster.
The fact that Aikman and his people have sold the first wave of reporters that it's a five-year deal touching $90M is asterisked.
(In this modest cocoon, that figure will be reported as fact and the asterisk removed when Aikman and his peeps kindly forward a copy of the contract.)
BUT THE OLD COWBOY certainly wants to save face mask any time he sees Tony Romo, who is in the early stages of his 10-year, $180M pact at CBS.
The Fisheye Network - with Romo and Jim Nantz - is one of only two booths set for the 2022 season. NBC's "Sunday Night Football," now to feature Cris Collinsworth alongside "Vanilla Mike" Tirico, is the other.
Wide open is Amazon Prime Video, which will begin its exclusive coverage of "Thursday Night Football" later this year.
Speculation remains rife that Al Michaels - age 77 - will call the Amazon games. But now he is also said to be on the shortlist at ESPN/ABC.
FOX RETAINS JOE BUCK, moving into the final year of an NFL/MLB deal worth close to $11M per season.
But could he be induced to follow Aikman to "MNF?"
McVay - the 36-year-old coach of the SB 56 champion Rams - put himself into play for a lead analyst slot and on Friday, pulled out.
Maybe he doesn't like the coaches yoga room at SoFi Stadium or the high-end cowboys boots of Stan Kroenke.
(For the sake of comparison, at age 36, Vince Lombardi, an assistant at Army, was editing weekly game films for Gen. Douglas MacArthur and George Halas was hustling loans from people like "Blue Shirt" Charlie Bidwill to keep the Bears afloat.)
GUESSWORK ABOUT Sean Payton and Tom Brady also keeps circling the booths at Fox and Amazon.
Best news regarding the Aikman switcheroo is that it almost certainly means the end of blowhard Steve Levy in the "MNF booth."
Levy was one of the most grating lead game callers in the history of the NFL. It was as if some straining bellower from the IT department had won an "Office Space" lottery.
Major Qs behind the musical microphones include: Is any broadcaster worth close to $1M per game? And, does any broadcaster significantly affect audience size for NFL games (unless your name is "Steve Levy" and viewers have a "Manningcast" alternative?)
In the meantime, the wheel 'round the big-money booths keeps on churning.
DICK DUCHOSSOIS WAS laid to rest on favorite grounds not far from the happy trails of the Northwest suburbs.
His parents are interred nearby.
Mr. Duchossois's family requested any memorials be made to either a favorite organization or:
The National World War II Museum, 945 Magazine St., New Orleans, La., 70130; or Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, 450 W. Highway 22, Barrington, Ill., 60010.
The remarkable "Mr. D" - age 100 - died Jan. 28 at his beloved Barrington Hills horse farm.
STREET-BEATIN': The awkwardness of Pat Foley's final season as TV play-by-play man for the Blackhawks is being perceived as simply more evidence of an organization that's come apart at the seams. Foley will call 12 of the team's final 28 games, beginning with Sunday's match against the Blues (NBCSCH, 2 p.m.) ...
Also from the icy fog of West Madison Street, one informed Hawks source says it's "98 percent certain" that radio p-b-p-er John Wiedeman will be back in that same role next season. (In an earlier life, Wiedeman bartended at the old Zanies Comedy Club in south Mount Prospect. Rumors are he once met "Make Me Laugh" vet Bruce "Baby Man" Baum.) ...
Free idea for a new sports game show, ideally featuring Phil Mickelson vs. Aaron Rodgers in Season 1, Episode 1: "Who Do You Loathe More?" (Winner faces James Harden; why would two allegedly coherent, wealthy golden boys work so hard to be massively disliked?) ...
CEO "Bunker Bill" Carstanjen all but spelled it out during the fourth-quarter earnings call of Churchill Downs Inc.: The Kentucky headhunters are buying time with the Bears-to-Arlington Park gambit as events elsewhere on the Illinois and national gaming landscapes play out. The chances of an NFL team controlled by the McCaskey family ever playing in Arlington Heights grow more and more remote. ...
From starting-gate mathematician Jack Puccinelli, at $197.2M for 326 acres, the floating "purchase" price of the Arlington Park land would be $604,967.97 per acre. (Meaning there must be old Noel Hickey gold buried under the turf course.)…
Incoming Cubs pitcher Marcus Stroman unleashed an intense tweetstorm earlier this week trashing the Mets - his former team - and Billy Eppler, its new GM. Most of the tweets were down 24 hours later. (A little electronic vitriol can be good for the soul, especially at 3 years, $71M, the numbers that are bringing Stroman to Wrigley Field.) ...
Dave Corzine reports that the DePaul Lady Blue Demons have an absolutely sensational freshman in Aneesah Morrow. The Simeon High alum is averaging 21 ppg and 13 rpg (including a Big East record 27 rebounds against Seton Hall in January). Coach Doug Bruno tried to recruit her mom - Nafeesah Morrow - 26 years ago but lost her to Nebraska. ...
And Graham Voorhees, after watching the Turner pro basketball glitterati exhibitions from Cleveland: "I'm betting we're not going to see the Beach Boys featured anytime soon at an NBA All-Star Weekend."
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.