It was long speculated that Tom Brady would one day be a player for the Las Vegas Raiders. Well, he will be a part of the Silver & Black. But he’s going to be an owner, not a player.
On Monday, Raiders Owner Mark Davis announced that Brady, a future Hall of Fame quarterback and future broadcaster for Fox Sports (probably), was set to become a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.
“We’re excited for Tom to join the Raiders,” Davis told ESPN, “and it’s exciting because he will be just the third player in the history of the National Football League to become an owner.”
Owner and managing general partner Mark Davis of the Las Vegas Raiders looks on before a game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium on January 07, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Chris Unger/Getty Images)
According to ESPN, the other two players turned owners are George Halas (Bears) and Jerry Richardson (Panthers).
The business arrangement represents a “Circle of Life” for Brady. After all, it was the then-Oakland Raiders that Brady and the Patriots defeated in January of 2002 to advance to what would become the first of Brady’s seven Super Bowl championships. For the Raiders part, they went to the Super Bowl the following year but got shellacked by the Bucs.
New England Patriots Tom Brady, #12, scrambled for a touchdown against the Oakland Raiders in the fourth quarter at Foxboro Stadium on Saturday, January 19, 2002. (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS / Nhat V. Meyer)
The Raiders have not won a playoff game since.
Brady’s bid to become a minority owner must win approval by 24 of the league’s 32 owners to become official. If approved (he will definitely be approved), the Raiders will become the second Las Vegas-based sports franchise that the former Buccaneer owns a piece of. Brady acquired an ownership stake in the Las Vegas Aces in March.
Should Brady decide to come out of retirement, as he did during his first “retirement” last year, and play for the Raiders, it would require the approval of league owners since Brady would be an actual owner.
That, he would probably have a harder time getting approved.
While it’s unlikely that Brady would play for the Raiders, it’s highly likely that he would call their games as a member of Fox Sports’ #1 broadcast team. Which leads to the question: Will Brady be allowed to broadcast Raiders games? One would imagine that having an ownership stake in one of the two teams on the field would represent a conflict of interest for anyone trying to give an impartial analysis of what’s happening on the field.
Right?
Fox Sports has not yet said how it will handle that situation.