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Tom Brady is a significant step closer to NFL ownership.
Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis announced on Monday that he and Brady have reached an agreement for the former quarterback to take a minority stake in the NFL franchise. The agreement will now be sent to the NFL for approval by league owners.
“We have come to an agreement for Tom Brady to become a partner in the Raiders, and we have submitted it to the NFL for approval,” Davis told ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.
Brady did not publicly address the news upon Davis’ announcement.
Terms of the deal were not reported. The agreement will require approval of 23 of the NFL’s remaining 31 owners. Any ownership deal requires approval by 3/4 of the league’s franchises.
Brady retired this offseason following 23 NFL seasons as quarterback with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He won six Super Bowls with the Patriots and a seventh with the Buccaneers after the 2021 season.
Brady’s ownership stake would appear to shut the door on any comeback attempts as a player. In the event the 45-year-old wanted to come out of retirement for a second time, he would require approval from 3/4 of the league’s franchises to allow him to play for the Raiders. Brady vowed in February that his second retirement announcement was “for good.” His former Patriots backup Jimmy Garoppolo signed with the Raiders this offseason.
Will Brady still call games for Fox?
An ownership stake reportedly wouldn’t prevent Brady from calling games for Fox. Brady has a 10-year, $375 million contract to call games as an analyst for the network that was slated to start in 2023. He announced after his retirement in February that he won’t start calling games until the 2024 season, declaring that he wants to “take some time to really learn, become great at what I want to do.”
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ESPN reports that the NFL prohibits employees with positions of authority at media outlets from having ownership stakes, but that the policy wouldn’t apply to Brady’s role as on-air talent. Fox has “blessed” Brady’s desire to take an ownership stake, according to the report.
The reported plan would create conflict-of-interest issues at Fox as Brady called games with outcomes relevant to the Raiders.