Tom Brady has earned an estimated $475 million in his playing career and operates his own fitness, apparel and production companies.
Why does he want to spend every Thanksgiving calling Cowboys and Lions games?
Brady will be Fox Sports’ lead NFL analyst when he retires, Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch announced Tuesday in an earnings call. Brady quickly confirmed the news with a tweet of his own.
At first thought, the idea of Brady becoming a full-time analyst is shocking. While it’s a cushy gig, it still requires extensive travel and unglamorous activities like film breakdown and trying to get answers from surly coaches during production meetings. If Brady truly wants to get into broadcasting, starting a project like the ManningCast would seem to be more sensible. It would allow him to call games without some of the more formal trappings.
Brady brands himself as a disruptor, yet he’s taking the most traditional job in sports TV. It doesn’t make sense, unless you look beyond the actual part about calling football games.
For Brady, this opportunity is about everything else.
The Fox Corporation is a media conglomerate that owns the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Entertainment and Fox Television Studios, as well as an immense digital operation. It is a great place for Brady to assert his way into Hollywood and expand 199 Productions. In addition to working as an NFL analyst, Brady will serve as a brand ambassador with a focus on “client and promotional activities,” Murdoch said.
In other words, Brady will receive the chance to network with many powerful people in the film and entertainment industries.
There are also few ways Brady could stay more culturally relevant than being Fox’ lead NFL analyst. NFL games were 75 of the 100 most-watched TV programs in 2021, with Fox drawing an average of 18.5 million viewers per week. The network is slated to broadcast four of the next 11 Super Bowls.
Calling Super Bowl LV in 2025 would be quite the way for Brady to cap his broadcasting debut.
The TB12 and BRADY ™ brands could only benefit from their founder being on the most-watched TV program every week in the fall and early winter. It’s not hard to imagine Brady wearing some BRADY ™ during his many public appearances.
I wish that were a joke; but sadly, it is not.
It’s apparent Brady, who will turn 45 in August, doesn’t want to be held to a specific retirement date. That’s another advantage to this deal. Brady will enjoy the flexibility to keep playing for as long as he wants, and for whomever he wants. Becoming part of the Dolphins’ ownership group would’ve tied Brady to Miami.
Now, Brady can play the field once his contract with the Buccaneers expires next year. He could even head into the booth, and come back if an enticing opportunity opens up down the line.
Brady may love the idea of being an international mogul and wellness guru, but as he’s said before, nothing brings him more purpose and happiness than football. “When I’m really joyful and fun and I’m in the moment, it’s usually me being on the football field,” Brady said in the finale of his latest docuseries, Man in the Arena. “I have other moments like that off the field, I think with my family, but football has been this place for me to really find so many of these current thoughts and be in the present and live a really joyful life.”
In the episode, Brady ruminates about his fear of stopping the hamster wheel, only to never be able to get back.
Being Fox’ lead NFL analyst allows Brady to stay on the hamster wheel, and get paid handsomely. Troy Aikman, his predecessor, just signed a five-year, $90 million deal with ESPN. That’s $18 million per year, which averages out to about $1 million per game.
So Brady gets to keep making crazy money, stay involved in football indefinitely and promote himself on a huge platform. This makes a lot of sense after all.