The NFL might be the undisputed king of TV content, but it is off-the-field drama that has dominated much of the conversation around the game this season so far.

In particular, it was a widely reported altercation before the Los Angeles Rams-Buffalo Bills game at SoFi Stadium earlier this month … in the ESPN broadcast booth.

To recap: ESPN’s lead play-by-play announcer Joe Buck signed a rich new contract with the company, but his longtime analyst partner Troy Aikman has not, resulting in reported bad blood between the boothmates.

On-air, of course, viewers would have no clue (Buck and Aikman have continued to deliver a broadcast worthy of their decamillion dollar contracts), but the dispute has become fodder, and Aikman has not been willing to shy away from discussing it.

The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback appeared on The Mike Fisher Show on Friday, where he was almost melancholy about what his future holds in media.

“I never had any interest in going into television, it was just by happenstance that I even got into it,” Aikman said, recalling the outreach from Fox Sports. “I don’t know that if they hadn’t hired me, I would have gotten an opportunity anywhere else. And here I am, 25 years later, and now as I’m into my last year at ESPN, I’m realizing that this is something that could very well be taken away from me, and so for the first time, I’m realizing how much I really do, and I’ve always enjoyed it.

“Until you risk having something taken away from you, I think sometimes you tend to maybe take things for granted,” he continued. “And so for the first time probably in my career, I’m realizing, you know, this is a great profession, it’s been a great ride for me, and I hope that it’s not over.”

As the faces of Fox and ESPN’s NFL coverage, Aikman and Buck have been staples on Sundays (and more recently Mondays) for years. The looming end of that is ripping through sports, media and the league itself. And the situation comes as Disney is set to host its first Super Bowl since 2006, with Buck and Aikman set to lead the game from the booth (they have also been a big part of its marketing). But with their rich deals, nothing can be assured, and in the TV business, any opportunity to get a better deal or sign talent that could make a difference is typically taken fast.

At a conference room in the InterContinental Barclay Hotel in Midtown Manhattan last week, NFL executive VP and chief media officer Hans Schroeder was asked about the Buck-Aikman-ESPN impasse.

Schroeder, who is responsible for managing the league’s relationships with its media partners, said that it had “no concern” with the situation.

“I don’t know if you watched the game on Monday night. It was an incredible game. An incredible game, and incredible coverage by Joe and Troy, just like they always do,” Schroeder told assembled journalists in the room, adding that the league was proud of Disney’s coverage, including its numerous altcasts with the Manning brothers, Pat McAfee and Star Wars, and with all the effort going into next year’s Super Bowl. “I think the fans are deserving of first-class game production, which Joe and Troy have — I think going back to ’02 or something was their first year — a history of doing that as well as anyone, and I think you’ll continue to see them do that as well as anyone.”

Suffice it to say, it is not the story that the league or Disney want to be talking about right now.

And yet, the ESPN broadcast booth drama underscores what has been perhaps the most tumultuous and uncertain year ever for NFL broadcasters.

At CBS, Tony Romo’s preseason arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated (OWI) led to his eventual ouster from the network’s broadcast booth. His replacement, JJ Watt, was named the permanent successor last week when he was given a multiyear contract extension, with Skydance Sports chief David Berson praising him as “insightful, entertaining, passionate, meticulous in his preparation, and the ultimate teammate.”

Greg Olsen is in the final year of his deal at Fox, and is looking for a new home, while current NFL names like Travis Kelce and Sean McVay have bubbled up as potential TV talent in chats with agents and network execs.

A senior NFL source told THR that the league doesn’t micromanage the personnel decisions of its broadcast partners, and that it isn’t involved in the calls being made when it comes to talent. But that doesn’t mean the league doesn’t have any say.

Sources at both the league and its rights partners paint the conversation around broadcasting as an ongoing conversation, with the league always interested in improving coverage of the game. More precisely, the league’s NFL deals require a quality of production from its partners that includes an A-team broadcast booth that can deliver a broadcast worthy of the league and its viewers (“first-class production,” as Schroeder said). It might be a mushy benchmark, but it does mean that more out there ideas like the Manningcast, the McAfeecase or animated altcasts remain secondary considerations, and that the main booth needs to have seasoned or otherwise A-list talent (like Tom Brady, who made his broadcast booth debut for Fox).

The drama matters, because the NFL matters. While no real fans will turn off their NFL games because of some broadcast booth drama, the entire situation is a rare speed bump for what is otherwise the most reliable bet in all of TV. And yet: The broadcast booths may change, but there’s no reason to think that the NFL will ever become less relevant, or less watched.