BY: Walker
Published 3 years ago
Tuesday morning brought a bombshell in the world of NFL media, as Fox Sports and Tom Brady announced the future Hall of Famer will step into Fox’s lead broadcast booth whenever he retires from the NFL (for real this time).
via: Complex
Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch made the announcement during the company’s fiscal third-quarter earnings call.
“It is entirely up to him for when he chooses to retire and move into what will be an exciting and stellar television career. That is up to him to make that choice when he sees fit,” Murdoch replied when asked when Brady’s deal with the network would go into effect.
Tom Brady has agreed to join Fox Sports as its lead NFL analyst whenever he stops playing, Lachlan Murdoch announced.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 10, 2022
During the call, Murdoch added that Brady’s deal will be a “long-term” one, and he will call “our biggest NFL games” alongside Kevin Brukhardt. In addition, Brady will serve as an “ambassador” for the network, “particularly with respect to client and promotional initiatives.”
According to the New York Post, Brady’s contract is worth a whopping $375 million over 10 years, which would make it the biggest contract for an analyst in sports TV history, per NBC Sports.
Brady, who turns 45 later this year, first announced plans to retire last February. However, he walked back on his decision just weeks later. In an interview with Complex last month, Brady said that he thinks he “could” still play football until he’s 50, but he probably won’t.
“I wanna be there for my son’s football games and lacrosse games and basketball games,” he said. “If I played till 50, I’d miss a lot of really important things in his life. And I don’t wanna do that. I wanna be there for him. I wanna be there for my wife. She has goals and ambitions. I’ve really pushed the limits.”
Fox is banking on Brady drawing eyeballs not only to their lead broadcast but to other shows where he’ll serve as Fox Sports’ ambassador, but at $375 million, it’s hard to know just how much return on investment they will get.