2024-Joe Buck

In March 2022, ESPN signed play-by-play commentator Joe Buck, along with Troy Aikman, to a multi-year deal, making him the new play-by-play announcer of Monday Night Football.

Buck and Aikman are the NFL’s longest broadcasting tandem in history, beginning their partnership in 2002 as a three-man booth with analyst Cris Collinsworth, before becoming a duo in 2005. Over their 22 seasons together, they have called more than 300 regular-season games, more than 40 playoff matchups, 18 NFC Championships and Super Bowls XXXIX, XLII, XLV, XLVIII, LI, and LIV. Both have been nominated for Sports Emmy Awards multiple times, with Buck winning a record-tying eight times for play-by-play. In December 2022, Buck was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

During the season, Aikman and Buck work alongside Lisa Salters, Monday Night Football’s longest-tenured sideline reporter. In May 2023, at the 44th Annual Sports Emmy Awards, Monday Night Football won a Sports Emmy for ‘Outstanding Live Sports Series’ for the MNF’s 2023 season – the trio’s first year together.

At a mere 25 years old, Buck became a household voice for NFL fans. He made his NFL debut during the 1994-95 season, calling a full slate of games for FOX Sports, a role he has continued each subsequent year. As he enters his 29th consecutive season calling NFL games, Buck will become the eighth play-by-play voice of Monday Night Football. He has also continued a family legacy, as he and his dad, Jack, are the only father-son duo to both call network Super Bowls and be recognized with the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. Jack Buck also had significant history with Monday Night Football, calling play-by-play on the national radio broadcast from 1978-1984 and 1987-1995.

Outside of the NFL, Joe Buck’s career accomplishments are vast and impressive, calling 24 World Series, 22 MLB All-Star games, five of golf’s U.S. Opens, and having hosted his own studio shows. Buck has been named the National Sports Media Association’s National Sportscaster of the Year four times, including three years in a row (2002-04, 2006).

Buck was a local radio and television announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1991 to 2007. His broadcasting career began in 1989, while he was an undergraduate at Indiana University. That year he called play-by-play for the Louisville Redbirds of the American Association, a minor-league affiliate of the Cardinals, and was a reporter for ESPN’s coverage of the Triple-A All-Star Game. Buck also hosted a talk show for HBO Sports, “Joe Buck Live,” in 2009, and hosted “Undeniable with Joe Buck” on DirecTV’s Audience Network.

Joe is the son of late broadcasting legend Jack Buck, whose career spanned parts of six decades. Jack and Joe are the only father and son to each call the Super Bowl on network television.

Active in many national and local charities, he hosts The Joe Buck Classic golf tournament, which benefits St. Louis Children’s Hospital and helps fund its imaging center. Since it began in 2000, the annual event has raised more than $5 million. Buck also works closely with the Parkinson’s Foundation, Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club, and City of Hope.

Buck is married to fellow ESPN reporter, Michelle Beisner-Buck. He has four kids; Natalie, Trudy, Wyatt, and Blake.

He was inducted into the NSMA Hall of Fame on July 1, 2024.