Some have categorized Tom Brady’s $375 million contract with Fox as historic, but Michelle Beadle decided to bluntly label it “asinine.”
Speaking to former ESPN anchor Bob Ley on her What Did I Miss? podcast, Beadle addressed Brady’s deal in waiting to become the lead NFL analyst for Fox, whenever he finally decides to retire from playing.
“The $375 million media deal that Tom Brady – that is asinine,” Beadle said. “I mean, I don’t even know what that dude’s ever said that has made me go ‘huh, I can’t wait to hear more of that.’ But $375 million?”
One frequent criticism of Brady’s contract with Fox is that for more than two decades, the 44-year-old quarterback did his best to be uninteresting when speaking to the media to avoid making any headlines. Despite his keen ability to speak a lot of words with little substance, Brady will soon be paid immensely to do a job that requires you to speak a lot of substance with fewer words.
Ley didn’t quite call Brady’s contract asinine, but he did note that there isn’t a broadcaster capable of bringing additional viewers to a game. “The person hasn’t been born that will drive, consistently over time, that will drive you to watch a sporting event,” he said.
Announcers might enhance a broadcast and a better analyst or play-by-play voice will certainly add to the audience’s enjoyment of a telecast, but no one is running to the TV set for a game they had no interest in watching because of who is behind the mic.
“George Clooney could be naked, juggling, talking about football and I’m still not gonna be like, ‘yup, that was worth $375 million,’” Beadle added. “By the way that was a weird call for Clooney naked, maybe [Chris] Hemsworth, maybe we’re more in Hemsworth territory now.”
Previously, a naked, juggling broadcaster would seem like a pointless ploy to attract viewers considering announcers were rarely on-screen. But the growing trend of creating alternate broadcasts for regular season games could definitely allow for a naked, juggling announcer to have their own permanent box on the screen.
But Brady won’t be naked and it’s unlikely that he’ll be juggling for Fox during his 10-year $375 million contract. Unless that’s an unexpected part of being a brand ambassador. The only thing Fox definitively knows about Brady is that he’s a superstar name. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be a superstar broadcaster and there certainly shouldn’t be an expectation that he’ll draw an audience to the TV set beyond his first week in the booth, whenever that may be.
[What Did I Miss? With Michelle Beadle]
