The rules surrounding what Tom Brady can and cannot do as a Fox broadcaster now that he’s a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders might seem harsh. The truth is that they’re based on an enforcement system that will probably look the other way more often than not while catering to make sure he gets what he needs.
Case in point, an update regarding the access that Brady’s crew has to practices or production meetings before Fox broadcasts.
As previously noted, the Fox NFL analyst cannot attend production meetings or have any access to players or coaching personnel before the games he is calling. While some in the industry have said it’s not a huge deal, others have pointed out how critical those kinds of opportunities are.
It’s also worth noting that even though Brady can’t attend those events, the rest of his broadcasting crew can. According to PFT’s Mike Florio, the NFL said in a Thursday conference call that coaches are not allowed to ban Kevin Burkhardt, Erin Andrews, and Tom Rinaldi from practices or production meetings, meaning that anything shared within will certainly be shared with Brady.
This might feel like common sense and obvious, but it creates yet another scenario in which the owner of an NFL franchise could have undue access or influence over another franchise.
Could you imagine Bill Belichick inviting people into his Patriots pre-game meetings who would then share that information with a co-owner of the New York Jets? Not in a million years.
If the Fox team returns from those meetings with unique insights into the Kansas City Chiefs or Denver Broncos game plans, what’s to stop Brady from relaying that information back to the Raiders, with whom he will have “a bigger role” than anticipated?
If anything, the incentive is now on the coaches and teams to withhold that kind of information from the Fox broadcasting teams, which could negatively impact their ability to call the games in various ways.
It seems like a lot of bending over backward for a broadcaster who’s perfectly fine but not quite great.
Many examples of the ways Raiders owner Tom Brady can benefit from his arrangement presume bad faith and that he intends to leverage his access for personal gain. Perhaps that’s unfair. Perhaps not.
The point still stands that it’s good to be the king.
[PFT]
