Fox had already gone all-in to secure Tom Brady’s talents as an analyst before the quarterback purchased a minority stake in the Raiders that forced him to abide by a number of rules other broadcasters aren’t subjected to.
Now, he could be facing even more restrictions after a recent sitdown with Patrick Mahomes reportedly ruffled some feathers.
It’s been close to three months since Tom Brady made his debut alongside Kevin Burkhardt covering NFL games for Fox after taking advantage of the 10-year, $375 million deal he received to pivot to broadcasting when he was still playing for the Buccaneers.
I think “perfectly fine” would be a pretty fair assessment of the job the legendary QB has done so far, and while it would be a huge stretch to suggest he’s overcome any major adversity, he has had to deal with the “Brady Rules” that were introduced after he added “NFL Owner” to his evergrowing résumé by buying a share of the Raiders.
The most notable restriction is an edict that bans him from criticizing officials on the air (he skirted any punishment after seemingly doing exactly that at the start of November), but he’s also not allowed to attend the pregame production meetings other broadcasters in his line of work typically use to gain some more insight into the matchups they’re covering on a weekly basis.
That second rule is primarily designed to prevent Brady from gaining information he could theoretically relay to the Raiders to give them an advantage, and that same concern is seemingly at the center of a new discussion that was sparked after he chatted with Patrick Mahomes for an interview that aired before the Chiefs faced off against the 49ers in October.
That segment was about as close to a puff piece as you can get, but according to Sports Business Journal, it nonetheless managed to attract the attention of the finance committee consisting of NFL owners who reportedly explored the possibility of hitting Brady with even more broadcasting restrictions during a meeting that was held on Tuesday.
The outlet cites fears Brady could have “received sensitive information” from Mahomes while talking with the quarterback and says his fellow owners could introduce new regulations “prohibiting private one-on-one interactions before or after the broadcast component” and require similar interviews to be approved while mandating they can’t be held in any team facilities.
It seems like a fairly overblown reaction to what was almost certainly a pretty innocuous interaction, but there’s a chance some of those measures end up getting passed if the aforementioned committee opts to raise the issue when every majority owner gathers for a league meeting in December.
