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There continue to be hints that retired quarterback Tom Brady may ultimately have to choose between serving as Fox’s lead NFL analyst or being a limited partner with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Mark Maske of the Washington Post reported on Tuesday night that “NFL team owners are unlikely to take a vote at next week’s annual league meeting” regarding Brady’s long-planned purchase of a stake in the Raiders, “barring a last-minute change.” Maske added that “some owners have concerns about conflicts of interest arising from Brady holding an ownership stake in the Raiders” while also working for Fox.
Brady currently is on track to begin his Fox tenure this coming season via the terms of a 10-year contract reportedly worth $375M.
It was first learned this past fall that Brady’s alleged agreement with Raiders principal owner Mark Davis had “a lot of problems,” including the fact that Davis offered Brady a stake in the franchise at a “discounted price.” Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico suggested in a piece published on Feb. 8 that Brady’s purchasing group had essentially taken care of such financial concerns, but Maske passed along on Tuesday that “it’s not clear whether [owners on the NFL’s finance committee are] satisfied with those efforts.”
As recently as last month, it was widely believed Brady’s agreement with Fox wouldn’t prevent him from holding a minority ownership stake in the Raiders, but Maske shared that some owners remain “reluctant to allow Brady, if he is a part owner of the Raiders, into their training facilities or onto their practice fields as part of his broadcast preparations.”
NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has repeatedly mentioned that coaches around the NFL could look to keep Brady away from practices and production meetings assuming the former signal-caller is able to purchase a piece of the Raiders.
“It is not clear whether conflict-of-interest concerns would be enough to halt Brady’s bid for Raiders ownership,” Maske notes, “if the economic aspects of the deal reach a point at which they satisfy the finance committee.”
Sports media insider Richard Deitsch of The Athletic hasn’t hidden the fact he thinks Brady “will not complete the Fox contract,” in part because of the seven-time Super Bowl champion’s “significant interests away from broadcasting.” Greg Olsen presumably would continue working as Fox’s No. 1 analyst should Brady have second thoughts about calling games either this spring or summer.
After next week, NFL owners aren’t scheduled to meet again until May. 24 of the 32 team owners must vote to approve any franchise ownership changes.
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