After decades of dominating on the gridiron and seven Super Bowl rings tucked away in his jewelry box, Tom Brady will appear in Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX in a new role — and on shakier footing.
The retired quarterback joined Fox Sports as a color commentator this season and has had an unsteady first year in the broadcast booth. And though his 10-year, $375 million contract almost certainly isn’t on the line this weekend, his legacy may well be.
“Tom Brady’s year in broadcasting will be judged on the Super Bowl,” said Richard Deitsch, a media reporter for The Athletic and the latest guest on “The Poynter Report Podcast.” “No one’s going to remember week four or week 10.”
At the start of the season, Deitsch said, Brady’s broadcasting was “very, very mixed and choppy” — understandable since broadcasting is a skill that takes time to learn. Early on, Brady had a tendency to “not know when to stop talking,” with his broadcast partner Kevin Burkhardt having to wait for him to finish.
Though Brady has improved over the course of the season, Deitsch said he still wouldn’t place him in the top tier of NFL analysts compared to others like Greg Olsen, Troy Aikman and Tony Romo.
And then there’s the issue of Brady’s minority ownership of the Las Vegas Raiders and potential conflicts of interest.
Deitsch said “Fox has not done any good job with this transparency,”
Fox Sports likely has a close eye on Thursday’s Media Day because it will be the first time Brady will face a large group of reporters, who are likely to ask him about his role with the Raiders. It could put Brady in an awkward position of having to address the conflict of interest and how it might impact his ability to objectively analyze games involving that team.
Fox would prefer to avoid distractions and keep the focus on broadcasting duties and Sunday’s Super Bowl, rather than Brady’s off-field business interests.
Given those interests, which also include a production company and minority ownership of an English soccer team, podcast host Tom Jones questioned whether Brady would fulfill the full terms of his contract.
“I would be stunned,” Deitsch said, “if he makes it 10 years.”
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Credits:
The Poynter Report Podcast is produced by the Department of Journalism and Digital Communication at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg
- Host: Tom Jones
- Executive Producers: Elliott Wiser and Ren LaForme
- Producers: Rhiannon Mcisaac, Noah Chase and Tom Jones
- Director: Christopher Campbell
- Special thank you: Neil Brown and Dr. Mark Walters
