Tom Brady already had several interesting elements on his well-stocked CV. Seven-time Super Bowl champion, three-time NFL Most Valuable Player, winningest quarterback in history and most recently, FOX on-air analyst. Now a new role is added to his profile, that of minority owner of the Raiders.
This is no surprise to anyone, since this has been Brady’s ambition for a few years now.
On Tuesday, the news became official when the owners of all 32 NFL teams approved the status.
Brady would therefore now hold 5% of the team’s shares. His business partner Tom Wagner would also own 5%, while Brady’s former teammate, ex-defensive lineman Richard Seymour, would get 0.5%.
For those who still had slim hopes of seeing Brady revive his career by jumping on the field, we now have to pick up and officially move on to another call.
This possibility was very slim, but it is now non-existent. No owner in the NFL, even a minority owner, can be a player at the same time.
Very involved?
Normally, we don’t hear much or nothing about a minority owner, especially when they own 5% of a team. However, according to various informants who cover the NFL closely in the United States, Brady intends to be quite involved in the Raiders’ football decisions.
His unique presence in the team’s entourage could facilitate operations in terms of sponsorship research and player recruitment and to increase the season ticket base.
Potential conflict of interest
For now, Brady is in the first year of a 10-year, $375 million contract with FOX, where he has automatically been installed in the analyst chair of the first pair of game callers, along with Kevin Burkhart .
This second career requires him to respect a duty of objectivity and he is also prohibited from appearing at the team training sites. He also cannot participate in the usual production meetings between the FOX team and the players and coaches. He is even prohibited from criticizing arbitration on the air.
Since his aspirations to become an owner were known, teams did not want him, as an analyst, to obtain inside information.
Now that he is officially an owner, his access as an analyst will certainly not be improved.
Brady, if he wishes to become more involved with the Raiders, may eventually have to leave his analyst position in order to be far from any suspicion of conflict of interest.
We bet that the Raiders, who are looking for a serious boost to right the ship, are just waiting for this outcome.
