Tuesday morning brought a bombshell in the world of NBA 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).
Brady will spend at least one more season under center for the Buccaneers after his initial retirement plans were scuttled this offseason — depending on who you ask, it was simply a change of heart to want to play again or the result of plans to become a player-owner of the Dolphins being nuked by the league’s investigation into Brian Flores’ lawsuit. In any case, Brady now has his post-playing career set up in full, giving Fox the big name they were desperate to find after Joe Buck and Troy Aikman bolted for ESPN’s Monday Night Football, but the price to bring in Brady is very steep.
Initial reports indicated Brady would get $20-25 million annually, but Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that was underestimating the contract by a considerable amount. Per Marchand, Brady’s new deal is for 10 years and a whopping $375 million, making his annual salary double that of Aikman and Tony Romo.
It’s not a surprise that Brady would immediately become the highest paid man in NFL television, but that is a rather preposterous figure, as Brady will now make more in the booth than he did in all but one season (2021, when he made $39 million) as arguably the best quarterback ever — and more over 10 years than he did in his 23 seasons in the NFL. 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.