It was first reported back in May that Tom Brady had agreed to buy a stake in the Raiders. The approval of that transaction was delayed for multiple reasons, but according to Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com, all systems are go.
Other league owners reportedly took issue with the bargain price at which Raiders owner Mark Davis was trying to sell a share of his club to Brady. Although minority pieces of a sports franchise are frequently sold for discounted rates — due to limited partners’ minimal contributions to franchise operations — it was rumored that Davis may have been offering Brady, one of his most-respected confidants, a 70% discount.
It sounds as if the purchase price was increased to placate Davis’ fellow owners. Per Rapoport and Pelissero, Brady’s investment was “recently altered,” and it now reflects “the proper valuation of the team.” The duo add that all other hurdles have been cleared. The league’s finance committee will meet in early March to discuss the purchase, and final approval should come during the annual league meetings in Orlando from March 24-27.
Another concern that arose during this process stemmed from Brady’s broadcasting contract with FOX, a 10-year, $375MM deal that will begin in 2024 and that will position Brady as the network’s No. 1 color commentator alongside top play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt. Of course, teams do not want anyone with an ownership stake in a rival outfit having the access and obtaining the inside information that broadcasters often enjoy, but Rapoport and Pelissero note that Brady’s FOX plans remain unchanged without suggesting that his access wil be any different than any of his media peers.
The Raiders are valued at $5.8 billion, and Brady’s ownership group is purchasing a 10% interest (Brady himself is putting up roughly seven percent). While the legendary QB has said he intends to play a “passive role,” Rapoport and Pelissero confirm that he has operated as an unofficial advisor to Davis — he assisted in the team’s recent head coaching search and in the hiring of OC Luke Getsy — so his definition of “passive” may be a broad one.
Brady and Vegas go together like the Patriots and cheating.
Good lord grow up smh
His Fox broadcasts will be as fair and balanced as Collingsworth calling KC games. Expect a love-fest and three and a half hours of annoying banter.
Even if he isn’t a Raiders suck up, the fact that the NFL would let anyone who owns part of a team work as a live game analyst is such a terrible look. It’s not about whether or not he is impartial; it’s about the appearance of the possibility that he could be impartial.
Well Fox mainly covers NFC though they had a lot of mixed coverage this year. Bucs had several games with CBS.
I don’t think Tom will have love fest but he will likely call out coverage and maybe be harder on QBs by comparing.
Fox’s emphasis is NFC East Uber Alles. CBS’s emphasis is the entire league. That’s one reason why the media s#!t all over Romo while drooling over Olsen and Brady.
New Owner of an NFL team as co-owner. stealing a #1 broadcasting job from Greg Olsen who’s actually good at it. How selfish and greedy can one man be?
Greg is annoying.
You really think it is his call to be the #1? Any station was going to make him number 1 because of who he is.
Olsen would’ve been #4 at best at CBS. It ain’t just the color man, it’s who he’s paired with.
I don’t mind him too much but Olson has the same disease that guys like Mark Schlereth have where they can not shut up. As soon as a play is whistled dead they start talking and don’t shut up until the next play is snapped.
I think Brady will last one season as color analyst for Fox. He’s going to suck at it, get ripped apart on social media, and decide he has better things to with his weekends.
Anything is better than Joe Buck.
No, it isn’t.
And Buck gets to call his next Super Bowl in 2027 IIRC.
Great Googly Moogly
I’ve been muting sports broadcasters for the past decade but I don’t mind listening to Frank Zappa and even attended a few of his concerts back in the day.
I hear this about Frank Zappa
But it is mainly about the Chefs and Snickers commercial and Svengoolie says it as well
At a minimum, he shouldn’t be allowed to call Raiders games. The NFL’s gambling partners would have a lot to say about that.
Because Brady really needed a discount on anything, let alone team ownership. Remember, he’s not even worth the most money in his own marriage yet he could still probably buy his own Pacific island if he felt like it.
Does this mean he will not be calling any Raiders Games?
No one has said anything about that yet officially. The fact that we have to ask that question is absurd.
Raiders are in the AFC which is mainly CBS all the time.
He works for Fox, it won’t be an issue.
He will be the #1 broadcasting team no chance Raiders get flipped to Fox for an “America game of the week”
He will be covering the usual SF, NFC East match ups, Rams, a Packer game and maybe some Lions.
Absent a guarantee to that effect, it is still a valid question.
Remember that the broadcast team gets access to a lot of information behind the scenes, and not just for the one game that the teams calls. So, the question doesn’t just extend to when the Raiders play NFC teams, because their other opponents will eventually appear on Fox at some point. I don’t necessarily think that Brady will be dealing information to the Raiders en masse, but there’s still a very stark question if you word this another way: should an NFL owner be calling NFL games? Should we just say,”it’s Brady, so it’s fine” or will other figures with a current interest follow later on?
I understand the question, it isn’t something normal in the NFL. The only thing I think it maybe compared to is Magic Johnson worked on broadcast and was still heavily involved with Lakers.
Maybe Doc Rivers being a consultant for the Bucks when he was just working for ESPN. He now coaches them but he may have had the daily commentating work of getting some extra info on other teams.
Brady will be mostly doing Dallas/Giants/Philly/maybe Skins cos Fox’s late game is “America’s NFC East Game of the Week”.
Vegas is about to become the ‘Fins out west. A bunch of celebrities will buy into the team and losing won’t matter because LV & NFL funded the stadium.