Another group of high-profile NFL free agents are cashing in this offseason: the broadcasters

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The theme of the NFL offseason has been star players changing teams at what feels like hyper speed. The same can be said of the guys calling the games.

Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left Fox to do "Monday Night Football" for ESPN, while Fox has yet to name a new No. 1 team. And Al Michaels bolted NBC to call "Thursday Night Football" for Amazon and will be joined by Kirk Herbstreit.

Broadcast booths develop into living-room institutions over the years, as the pairs or trios typically remain in place. To see a wave of change is rare, said longtime broadcasting agent Sandy Montag, but there are telltale factors driving the upheaval.

“It’s unusual that the top broadcasters or teams, together, go from one network to the other,” said Montag, who is CEO of The Montag Group. “But that’s the changing landscape, really, of sports and media. A lot of it is based on supply and demand and also what financial value is placed on certain talent.”  

Like the quarterbacks trading places over the past few weeks, everyone involved in the microphone musical chairs is being handsomely compensated to the tune of seven-figure contracts – which are a fraction of what networks and companies pay leagues to show their games. The NFL’s latest 10-year rights deals with five major companies (NBC, CBS, Fox, Disney, Amazon) sold for a combined $110 billion, and as money has grown across sports, “that filters down to a lot of different things,” said Montag.   

“So when you get in the business of having Super Bowls and primetime schedules, you certainly want to make an investment and have the talent that you feel is worth the investment on the rights side,” he added.

Historically, Montag said, movement among A-level sports broadcasters happens when a major sport shifts networks and new rights deals go into effect. An exclusive streaming option (Amazon on Thursday night), and Disney (ABC, ESPN) gaining more Monday Night Football power and working into the Super Bowl rotation changed the landscape this time.

Montag represented the legendary coach and broadcaster John Madden for decades and likened it to 1993, when Madden jumped from CBS to Fox once the latter acquired NFL rights and showed him the money.

That was a similar playbook to what ESPN offered Buck and Aikman. ABC will air the Super Bowl in 2026 and 2030. Buck and Aikman are now making $15 million and $18 million per year, respectively, according to the New York Post.  

Aikman said this week on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast that he believes economics were the primary reason behind his departure from Fox. 

“I'm guessing that it was an opportunity for Fox to kind of hit the reset button on the economics of the number one booth. That was it, I sense,” he said.

CBS avoided this round of musical chairs by keeping its top broadcast team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo in place. It was five years ago that the network booted the much-maligned Phil Simms and hired Romo, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback who in 2020 signed a new contract that pays him about $17 million per year, according to the New York Post.

Romo's deal “certainly set a benchmark” and “established a different tone” when it came to negotiating contracts for A-team NFL broadcasters, Montag said. At Amazon, Herbstreit is expected to make north of $10 million, with Michaels making similar to Buck’s salary, according to the Post.

“I’m glad guys are getting what somebody’s willing to pay them. I’ve always felt that way, whether they’re players or announcers,” said former CBS announcer Dan Fouts, who laughed when trying to determine how much less he made calling games compared to Romo and Aikman.

That’s the world we live in now, Montag said. Over time, sports broadcasters have become embedded in pop culture. Social media is one reason.

“Not just in sports, but entertainment and news,” he said. “As media has grown and developed and streaming services (came along), I just think over the last couple of decades broadcasters have become personalities in their own ways.”

 Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.