With his retirement from the NFL, Tom Brady no longer judges himself by wins and losses. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be anything less than dedicated as he begins his 10-year, $375 million announcing gig with Fox Sports this fall.
‘Certainly, as a broadcaster, I don’t think for me it’s about competition,’ Brady told Colin Cowherd on Monday’s show.
‘For me, it’s about: ‘Did I put everything I could into it? Did I give the fans everything that they tuned in for?’ Brady asked rhetorically.
‘That’s really how I’ll end up gauging myself and I’ll have to look at myself at the end of every Sunday night going, ”Did I do a good enough job? Did I live up to the belief that Fox had in me? Did I live up to the expectations of my teammates Kevin Burkhardt and Erin [Andrews] and Tom [Rinaldi] and Richie Zyontz and Rich Russo and our entire truck and our entire team?’ That’s ultimately how I’ll judge myself in that new role.’
But Brady isn’t just moving up the announcer’s booth. He also wants to set foot in the owner’s box as well, provided he and the NFL can find a way to approve his purchase of a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.
How much closer the seven-time Super Bowl champ is to joining the league’s club of owners remains to be seen.
Owners did not vote in March on Brady’s plan to add a stake in the Raiders to his minority ownership in the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces. The league concluded its spring meetings Wednesday at a Nashville hotel without a vote on Brady’s offer that has been pending for about a year.
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‘The finance committee has done their work on this, and we have a little more to do,’ Commissioner Roger Goodell said May 22.
NFL owners aren’t scheduled to meet again until October.
One issue is the price Brady agreed to pay to join George Halas and Jerry Richardson as only the third former NFL player to be an owner. Owners want to be sure Brady doesn’t get a discount especially with how the value of NFL franchises keeps rising.
And Brady’s new gig with Fox Sports also complicates matters.
TV broadcasters not only have pregame production meetings with team coaches, they can watch practices as part of their preparation. That’s a lot of access for someone with a potential financial stake in one of the NFL’s 32 teams.
‘That was one of the factors about as a member of the media what would access be like every week as he prepares for the broadcast of the game,’ Goodell said. ‘And we’ve addressed that also. So we’re making progress.’