Shortly after his retirement from the National Football League, Tom Brady bought an ownership stake in the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces and then agreed to buy a stake in the Las Vegas Raiders from Mark Davis. It appears Brady’s dreams of owning an NFL team might not come to fruition.
Brady originally had a deal with Davis to buy a 10 percent ownership stake in the Raiders with plans for it to be approved in 2023. However, NFL owners pushed back against the agreement because of a strong belief that Brady was getting too much of a discount.
Related: Richest NFL owners
- Tom Brady stats: 89,214 passing yards, 97.2 QB rating, 649 passing touchdowns, 212 interceptions, 64.3% completion rate, 7.4 yards per attempt, 5.4% TD rate, 1.8% INT rate
Teams also had concerns regarding the possibility of Brady becoming a minority owner in the Raiders franchise and then unretiring, making an NFL return for the second time. That resulted in rules preventing teams from giving equity stakes in the franchise to any active players or team employees.
Related: Best NFL players ever, including Tom Brady
Brady and Davis revised their deal, with the quarterback vowing to stay retired and seemingly pay more for his ownership stake in the franchise. Then, the NFL announced that Brady becoming a team owner would result in him forfeiting the right as a broadcaster to attend in-person or online broadcast production meetings. He’s also not allowed to have access to team facilities, players or coaches.
- Tom Brady career earnings (Spotrac): $333 million
As written by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the roadblocks to an ownership stake being thrown out by the NFL could be the league’s way of blocking Brady from becoming an owner without having to vote on the matter.
Related: NFL power rankings 2024, see where Las Vegas Raiders land
Brady is heading into his first season as the top NFL analyst for FOX, which is just part of the responsibilities in the 10-year, $375 million contract he signed with the company. The restrictions levied against Brady would put him at a significant disadvantage in terms of his preparation for games and would seemingly also hurt the quality of FOX’s broadcasts.
Florio believes the NFL’s hope is that the recently announced restrictions will compel Brady to back off his repeated efforts to buy a stake in the Raiders. If he continues to pursue a deal, then team owners would likely step in and block a deal.
Also Read: Week 1 fantasy football rankings