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Tom Brady to join Fox Sports when playing career ends
A topsy-turvy offseason for NFL broadcasting took perhaps its most surprising twist Tuesday morning when Fox Corp. Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch announced that Tom Brady will step into the network’s booth when the winningest quarterback of all time retires.
When that happens, of course, is still to be determined. Brady, 44, could play one or several more seasons. But when he hangs up his spikes for good, he will join Kevin Burkhardt in Fox’s lead booth, Murdoch said. If he retires after two more seasons, he would be in line to call a Super Bowl in his first year as an announcer. Fox is set to broadcast two of the next three
Super Bowls.
“We are delighted that Tom has committed to joining the Fox team and wish him all the best during this upcoming season,” Murdoch said in a statement Tuesday after announcing the news on a network earnings call.
Murdoch’s announcement is the latest move in a lucrative game of musical chairs for the NFL’s top announcers.
Troy Aikman and Joe Buck jumped from Fox to ESPN to call Monday Night Football earlier this year, for contracts that will pay them around $18 million and $15 million a year, respectively.
Al Michaels hopped from NBC to Amazon for its inaugural Thursday Night Football season. He will be joined by ESPN’s top college football analyst, Kirk Herbstreit, who will moonlight with Amazon while keeping his day job. Both are likely set for seven figure deals. Mike Tirico will take over for Michaels at NBC; and Tony Romo, who reset the salary scale with his $17 million deal two
years ago, remains at CBS with Jim Nantz.
A Fox spokesman declined to comment on Brady’s contract.
Brady turns 45 in August and will begin his 23rd season later this year. The six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback has had a news-making offseason. He announced his retirement after last season ended, but changed his mind about six weeks later and will return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On Tuesday, he said on Twitter that he was “excited” about his future television role but had “a lot of unfinished business on the field” with the Buccaneers.
He will be the latest star quarterback to join the ranks of broadcasters, joining Aikman and Romo, as well as both Manning brothers, Peyton and Eli, who began hosting a simulcast for Monday Night Football last season. Drew Brees also retired from the NFL and jumped straight to the booth with NBC last year, though initial reviews have been mixed. Brady appeared on an episode of the Manning brothers’ show last season and flashed his analyst chops in a memorable segment.
The NFL signed lucrative new TV deals last year with the four broadcast networks, as well as Amazon. Those deals, which preceded the announcer frenzy, will pay the league more than $100 million over the
next decade, signifying the importance of the league to all its broadcast partners.
Fox is scheduled to broadcast the Super Bowl this season and still needs
to name a top analyst. But that job is now a temporary opening.