Tom Brady will face unique restrictions if he becomes Raiders owner
By Austin Boyd
Tom Brady's quest to become a part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders is ongoing. It feels like it's been forever since Mark Davis admitted that he had a deal in place to have the legendary quarterback buy a stake in the team but the NFL has been taking its time approving him.
One of the big hangups has been Brady's deal with FOX. He's going to be calling NFL games and commentators get access to practices and interviews with players and coaches. They get more insight than a normal media member would get. Well, Brady won't be afforded such luxuries if he becomes a part owner of the Raiders, according to ESPN.
"The league confirmed to ESPN that among the restrictions, Brady would not be permitted to be in another team's facility, would not be permitted to witness practice and would not be permitted to attend broadcast production meetings, either in person or virtually," Seth Wickersham wrote. "The lack of access to coaches and players before games could be the most severe restriction; those meetings, at which a broadcast crew meets with the matchup's head coaches and key players, are often a lifeblood of insight for the telecast."
On one hand, it's understandable why NFL teams wouldn't want another owner getting all this insight. Brady isn't exactly known to be the biggest rule follower. There's nothing stopping him from sharing secrets with the Raiders. At the same time, FOX mostly covers NFC games so it wouldn't be hard to schedule him to only cover games against non-Raiders opponents.
NFL owners aren't exactly the most forgiving bunch so they're not going to make it easy on Brady or the Raiders. It will be interesting to see how this affects his ownership bid. FOX is paying him a ton of money but might want to re-think their contract if Brady can't fufill his duties.
This could be a situation to watch as owning the Raiders may simply be too complicated at this point.