The NFL has taken on a level of prominence in American sports culture unlike anything we have ever seen. Much of that was the advancement of football exposure on FOX Sports since they first began airing games in 1994. 20 years ago, FOX signed Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman to be one of their key announcers.

As noted by Pro Football Talk, Sunday's NFC Championship between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams might be Aikman's last with the network.

Aikman spoke about this being his final game at FOX Sports with Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Clarence E. Hill.

Streaming services such as Amazon have been attempting to break into the live sports game in recent years. Reportedly, Amazon is interested in Aikman's services for their Thursday Night Football coverage.

Like most things, money is the biggest sticking point. NFL on CBS broadcaster Tony Romo (ironically also a former Cowboys quarterback) has set the bar, reportedly making $20 million per year. Aikman's current deal is supposedly worth approximately $7.5 million per year.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos clearly has deep enough pockets to make it happen.

A couple of years ago, the Murdoch family sold 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight for over $71 billion to Disney. That left a company much more streamlined, leaving only FOX Sports and FOX News to become a new company altogether. Knowing the belt is a bit tighter within the new company, it might be hard to justify the pay raise for Aikman.

Aikman appeared to butt heads with former executives after blasting the company for hiring Skip Bayless. During NFL Wild Card weekend two weeks ago, Aikman made it clear he wanted to be calling the 49ers-Cowboys game.

Alongside Joe Buck, Troy Aikman has been one of the NFL's strongest voices helping propel the game to fans.