Tom Brady wearing multiple hats as a broadcaster and minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders has some of the lines seeming more and more blurry.
Veteran sports broadcaster Dan Patrick finds it questionable for the future Hall of Fame quarterback to do both at once.
“It’s problematic with Tom trying to do both of these things,” Patrick said on his The Dan Patrick Show Tuesday.
Patrick made the point of separating an analyst/reporter from someone who has inside information about front-office decisions about a team. Not all coaches are forthcoming, so they don’t tell the media everything. But when you’re a minority owner of said team, that’s a different situation.
Patrick said announcers aren’t allowed to go into ownership meetings.
“I don’t know if he’s doing double duties where he’s doing the game, but he’s also being informed, ‘By the way, we’re going to release the entire offensive staff here,'” Patrick said.
“It’s problematic with Tom trying to do both of these things.”
-DP on Tom Brady’s roles as a minority owner of the #Raiders and the leader broadcaster for FOX pic.twitter.com/8wrVmNovcA
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) November 5, 2024
Yes, there are certain relationships that evolve over time which is why insiders have more sources than others. There’s also the element of status Brady possesses.
Who wouldn’t want to talk to the greatest of all time about certain things happening behind the scenes? Well, perhaps those who knows he has a stake in another NFL team.
Patrick used the term “problematic” again.
One particular incident highlighted one of the restrictions Brady has as a minority owner. On Sunday, he disagreed with an official’s call that resulted in the ejection of Detroit Lions defender Brian Branch.
The NFL sent a statement to the Sports Business Journal that said there would be an issue if Brady “was egregiously critical of officiating or called into question the integrity of an official or the crew.” VP of Communications Brian McCarthy said that didn’t occur in that instance.
Patrick referred to the response as “Tom Brady rules,” which is “unfortunate.” If this were to be anybody else, would this “rules” be implemented?
The other side of those rules are that since it is Tom Brady, the benefit of the doubt doesn’t exist when it comes to his rookie broadcasting season with Fox. Greatness is the only option.
That seems far out of reach from the responses to his booth debut so far.
