October 16, 2024

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Good morning. Tom Brady’s next big move is official after NFL owners unanimously approved him as a minority owner of the Raiders. His new role comes with restrictions: He’s barred from non-Raiders facilities, production meetings, and even criticizing officials or teams on-air. How will this affect his day job as a Fox Sports analyst?

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

From Tuck Rule to Team Owner: Tom Brady Secures Stake in Raiders [[link removed]]

The Providence Journal

ATLANTA — The Tom Brady legend, in many ways, began with the infamous “Tuck Rule” game in 2002 that helped propel the quarterback to the first of his seven Super Bowl titles. Now Brady is officially a part-owner of the Raider team he vanquished in the snow more than two decades ago.

NFL team owners unanimously approved Brady as a minority owner of the Raiders during their fall business meeting, completing an expected but long-delayed transaction [[link removed]] in which he and business partner Tom Wagner will gain about a 10% equity stake in the franchise. Brady’s former Patriots teammate, Richard Seymour, is also part of the transaction. Brady will personally hold about a 5% stake.

“It’s great that Tom Brady wants to invest in the NFL,” said league commissioner Roger Goodell. “He cares deeply about this game. He believes in its future, and this is a statement of that.”

Following the vote, Brady issued a statement [[link removed]] thanking his partners and NFL owners for helping to facilitate the deal.

“Throughout my NFL career, I’ve learned that at its core, football is a game of teamwork, resilience, and a relentless pursuit of excellence,” he said. “The Raiders franchise, and the city of Las Vegas, embody these same values, and I’m honored to become part of that story.”

That wasn’t the only team equity transaction approved Tuesday. Also gaining clearance was a sale of 27% of the Chargers from Dea Spanos Berberian to Tom Gores, owner of the NBA’s Pistons. The transaction helps resolve a dispute within the Spanos family, which has had majority control of the Chargers for four decades.

Rules of the Road

Because of Brady’s dual role as both team co-owner and broadcaster with Fox Sports, there are a number of restrictions placed on him. Among them is a prohibition on performing common television analyst functions such as attending broadcast production meetings with coaches and players, and watching practices. Brady is also not allowed at team facilities, and he cannot publicly criticize game officials and other clubs.

“That’s all been resolved very clearly, and everybody seems to be satisfied with that,” Goodell said.

TV Talk

The NFL team owners, meanwhile, received an update on the league’s television performance to date, which is showing 1% growth from this point last year [[link removed]]. Several factors were cited in supporting that growth, including a continuing highlight of top teams in key windows, a resurgence of teams such as the Bears and Commanders, and on-field competition trends that have shown an unprecedented number of games so far this season decided by seven or fewer points.

That viewership is now set for a further boost with a recent agreement between the NFL and ESPN parent company Disney to expand the simulcasts on ABC of Monday Night Football [[link removed]].

“We all felt this was a very pro-fan thing to do,” said Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s chief media and business officer. “I think [Disney] had their own issues to work out internally, but … increasing reach is our mission, and broadcast television helps us do that.”

Rolapp, however, refused to say whether the NFL will carve out a new package of international rights as the league continues to expand its number of non-U.S. games [[link removed]].

“That’s really all to be determined,” he said of creating a new international-game-specific rights package. “But there’s clearly been a focus on international, how we grow the game there, grow our commercial operations, grow the fan base. That certainly has a lot to do with how we do our game packages, both here and abroad. But we haven’t made any decisions yet.”

Uniform Deliberations

NFL team owners also received an update on negotiations for the league’s next rights deal for on-field uniforms. The current pact, held by Nike, expires after the 2027 season. Bidding is said to be “open and active” with multiple suitors. Regardless of who wins oversight of the uniform rights, though, the actual uniform manufacturing will remain as is, and led by Wisconsin-based Ripon Athletic—similar to how the NHL recently transitioned its official uniform rights to Fanatics [[link removed]]. NFL EVP Renie Anderson is leading the negotiations on behalf of the league.

With the bevy of throwback and alternate uniform sets developed across the NFL in recent years, the scale of the overall rights has never been larger.

Swift Moves The Jaguars’ $1.4 billion renovation deal for EverBank Stadium also received unanimous approval. The agreement includes $775 million in taxpayer funds toward the project. “It’s hard to call it even a renovation,” Goodell said, citing the massive ambition contained in the effort. Goodell also received a lighthearted question in his press availability about the prospect of pop icon Taylor Swift, the girlfriend of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce [[link removed]], buying into a team. “If she’s interested, I think she has the ability to do it, let’s put it that way,” Goodell said. Alternate Super Bowl Broadcast Could Boost NFL’s Record Ratings [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

In February, a Super Bowl–record 123.4 million people watched the Chiefs beat the 49ers [[link removed]] 25–22 in overtime to secure Kansas City’s second consecutive Lombardi Trophy. In four months, yet another innovation from the NFL could help bring in even more viewers.

Of course, Super Bowl LVIII had the ultimate on-field drama and culminated the season of Taylor Swift [[link removed]], who was in attendance in Las Vegas supporting her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. But it was also the first Super Bowl to feature an alternate broadcast [[link removed]] on another channel besides that year’s main network partner. Paramount’s kid-friendly Nickelodeon had its own presentation of Super Bowl LVIII alongside CBS.

The game was also available to stream on Paramount+, NFL+, and CBS Sports and league digital platforms, in addition to a Spanish-language broadcast on Univision (which had a licensing deal with Paramount). That last part is key, as Super Bowl LIX will see the NFL bring the alt-cast strategy to another language.

While Tom Brady will be heard by the 100 million–plus audience tuning in to Fox on Feb. 9, Spanish-speaking viewers for the first time will have two options to watch, instead of one. Fox and NBCUniversal worked out a deal to produce two separate broadcasts that will air on Fox Deportes and Telemundo, both of which have previously aired Super Bowls.

Univision drew a Spanish-language record of 2.3 million viewers for Chiefs-49ers. That’s a small number in the wider Super Bowl lens, but still growth over the 1.9 million the year prior on Telemundo, which is scheduled to have Spanish-language rights in February 2026.

Continuing the English-language alt-cast trend in 2027, ESPN is planning to produce a ManningCast for Super Bowl LXI [[link removed]]. Through five weeks of the regular season, NFL game broadcasts were averaging 17.5 million viewers, up 1% from the same time frame in 2023 [[link removed]].

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NIL WATCH Next in Line

Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

Front Office Sports keeps you updated on the latest NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals shaping college sports. Here’s who is cashing in now:

Athlete: JuJu Watkins Sport: Basketball School: University of Southern California Brands: Nike and Gatorade

The deal: The Trojans’ star sophomore signed two marquee deals last week. On Tuesday, Watkins signed a contract extension with Nike, which, according to ESPN insider Shams Charania, is one of the richest deals in women’s basketball [[link removed]].

Two days later, Gatorade announced Watkins as its newest endorser [[link removed]], joining other women’s basketball stars like Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson, and Paige Bueckers.

Watkins, who won’t be eligible for the WNBA draft until 2027, has an NIL valuation of $576,000, sixth among NCAA women’s basketball players [[link removed]], according to On3.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY Brady In, Adams Out for Raiders

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The Raiders made two sets of headlines Tuesday, starting the day off by trading Davante Adams to the Jets, and ending it with Tom Brady’s official approval to become a minority team owner. Front Office Sports newsletter writer Eric Fisher was on-site at the NFL owners meetings and takes us behind the scenes of Brady’s approval. We also hear from The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt on the Jets’ side of the Adams trade, plus the latest on Haason Reddick and the team’s midseason coaching change.

Also, Atlanta Dream co-owner Renee Montgomery joins the show to discuss her surprise retirement, the WNBA’s rapid growth, and what she learned going from the court to the front office.

Watch, listen, and subscribe on Apple [[link removed]], Spotify [[link removed]], and YouTube [[link removed]].

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS EVENTS

The Rise of Women’s Athletics

Women’s sports are breaking attendance and viewership records, and there is no sign of slowing down.

Join us [[link removed]] today at 1 p.m. ET for Future of Sports: Women’s Sports as we discuss the rise of women’s sports, the companies investing in them, how female athletes can capitalize on their own brand, media-rights opportunities, and more.

This four-part virtual event will unpack how teams, brands, leagues, and properties are shaping the future of women’s sports, fostering innovation, and championing a new era of inclusivity and excellence.

Register now [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters The NBA is launching a multiview feature on its NBA app [[link removed]], giving fans an option to watch up to four games simultaneously on League Pass. The NLCS is heading to New York, where the Mets have a speakeasy [[link removed]] in the outfield. It features a secret entrance, private bar, and tiered seating for just 30 members at $25,000 each, with only 100 luxury seats available. The Cavaliers broke ground on a new performance center, a 210,000-square-foot facility by the Cuyahoga River set to open in 2027. Take a look [[link removed]?]. Editors’ Picks Increasingly Desperate Jets to Pay All of Davante Adams’s Contract [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The Bills and Chiefs reportedly didn’t want to pay the full amount. Cricket Is World’s No. 2 Sport. Can New Docuseries Add U.S. Audience? [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]The new series will come a year after the T-20 World Cup. WNBA Eyes 16th Team by 2028: Engelbert Evaluates Candidates [[link removed]]by Colin Salao [[link removed]]Sixteen teams would tie a league record for active franchises. Question of the Day

Will Tom Brady still be a Fox analyst during the 2027 NFL season?

YES [[link removed]] NO [[link removed]]

Tuesday’s result: 63% of respondents expect there to be 16 WNBA teams by 2028, with the Valkyries joining next season and Toronto and Portland following in 2026.

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