The NFL’s special broadcaster access rules first instituted for Tom Brady in 2024 will be extended to Troy Aikman this season, per Mark Maske of Front Office Sports.
The league placed the restrictions on Brady shortly after he was approved to become a minority owner of the Raiders to assuage concerns about a conflict of interest. His access was seen as a potential avenue towards giving Las Vegas a competitive advantage during the season. The FOX color commentator was originally barred from attending pre-game production meetings that feature conversations with players and coaches from both teams and could not step foot in any team’s facilities outside of the Raiders’. The former rule has since been relaxed, but the latter remains in place, along with limits on criticizing teams officials and a requirement to comply with the league’s gambling and tampering policies.
Those restrictions will now apply to Aikman, the former Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback-turned-ESPN commmentator on Monday Night Football. He helped the Dolphins select their new general manager and head coach this offseason and has continued to advise the team since, even sitting in on their draft process in April.
NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy detailed those parameters in a statement: “Both may attend production meetings virtually but will have no access to practice facilities or practices. They may conduct interviews outside team facilities with football personnel and players. They could conduct the interview at the team hotel in an area separate from other football personnel. They could broadcast games involving their own club.”
The NFL seems to be relying on the precedent they set with Brady to establish a standard for all future broadcasters with potential conflict of interest. Any others with official ties to an NFL team will almost certainly face the same restrictions.
Brady and Aikman are both involved in their teams’ football decision-making, though Aikman’s role seemed to be in more of an advisory capacity. The rules are designed to prevent them from unfairly aiding their teams using information gleaned from their broadcasting gig.
“There have been no issues with Tom [Brady] over the last two seasons,” McCarthy said. “It is up to the coaches and clubs what they share with him. If they share information they shouldn’t, then that’s on them. The same parameters that pertained to Tom last season will continue this year and also will apply to Troy [Aikman].”
Aikman downplayed concerns about a potential conflict of interest due to his work in Miami this week, saying (via Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith) that “the Dolphins are not expected to be very good this year.” He also noted that the team is not scheduled to appear on Monday Night Football in 2026, which will allow him to avoid broadcasting one of their games this year.