TOM BRADY SHOULD TELL THE RAIDERS NO OR LEAVE FOX SPORTS AS AN ANALYST
He can’t own part of an NFL franchise and serve a network as a responsible lead commentator, without restrictions banning him from speaking to coaches and players and walking around league facilities
The option seems easy, no different than eating legumes and whole grains for lunch. Should Tom Brady pay $175 million for a minority share of the Las Vegas Raiders — or pocket $375 million to analyze NFL games for Fox? He’s a single man, after settling an ironclad prenuptial agreement with Gisele Bundchen, so wouldn’t he want the biggest contract in sportscasting history to break down quarterbacks?
Instead of having no quarterback in the desert?
He would like to do both, but would-be fellow owners aren’t fond of his deal with the Raiders. When they were valued at $6.2 billion by Forbes — a price rising this season — his $175 million fee is wildly discounted at “10 percent.” That has forced the league to balk with a series of restrictions that might make Fox ask why they’re employing him.
Unlike other commentators, Brady as a team owner wouldn’t be allowed to watch practices or meet with coaches and players during production meetings. On the air, he’s banned from criticizing other teams and must keep chiding of game officials at a minimum. He can’t gamble on games. He can’t tamper with players. How often do we hear Tony Romo, Cris Collinsworth and Troy Aikman speak of their gatherings with key members of both teams? Brady would miss such conferences and lack valuable insight on the air, which limits the impact of a seven-time Super Bowl champion.
To this point, Fox has said yes, yes, yes and yessir to Brady’s demands. But if he couldn’t meet next week with Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy of the Dallas Cowboys and Deshaun Watson and Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns — and can’t meet with anyone throughout the season and before the Super Bowl — what exactly is the point of Brady doing the games? Owner Mark Davis should have informed Brady that he can’t own a piece of the Raiders as an enormous media man. For some reason, they carry on and hope Brady will be approved by the league’s finance committee and at least 24 of the 32 owners.
The league must protect integrity when Brady, as an owner, is wandering around training facilities. And the last black mark he wants is surveilling franchises after his Deflategate scandal. As it is, Fox had to demote a prime No. 1 analyst, Greg Olsen, to make way for Brady. Now, Olsen can maneuver as he pleases in a No. 2 role. Wouldn’t we rather hear Olsen discuss his chat with Patrick Mahomes or Caleb Williams than Brady say nothing?
So, the answer should be simple. He’ll thank Davis for the offer, continue to partially own the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces and wait a few years for the NFL bid. If not, he should meet with Fox’s Lachlan Murdoch and say no. That’s a massive price to pay — almost $400 million for 10 years — to own part of the Raiders.
In due time, the Krafts in New England and other owners will contact him. For now, tell Davis that Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell aren’t NFL starters. But if he’s serious about TV, he’ll tell us all. We deserve his acumen. The Raiders do not.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.