Miami Herald

Brady to be lead Fox analyst when he retires

- Jelena Ostapenko

Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady will join Fox Sports as its lead football analyst once his playing career ends, the network said Tuesday.

When that actually happens is unclear, because Brady recently changed his mind about retiring and said he plans to continue playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for his 23rd NFL season.

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch made the announceme­nt during a corporate investor call on Tuesday.

“Over the course of this long-term agreement,

Tom will not only call our our biggest NFL games with Kevin Burkhardt, he will also serve as an ambassador for us, particular­ly with respect to client and promotiona­l initiative­s,” Murdoch said.

Murdoch said it’s “entirely up to” Brady when he decides to retire from football and join Fox. Brady led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title following the 2020 season and NFC South championsh­ip last season.

Fox recently lost its top football announcers, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, to ESPN. It replaced Buck with Burkhardt.

According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, the deal with Fox will pay Brady $375 million over 10 years, the richest deal for an NFL analyst ever. CBS pays former Cowboys quarterbac­k Tony Romo $18 million per year, thought to be the highest among current NFL broadcaste­rs.

ETC.

Soccer: Barcelona moved a step closer to securing second place in the Spanish league by defeating 10-man Celta Vigo 3-1 despite defender Ronald Araujo leaving the field in an ambulance with a head injury after colliding with a teammate. … Liverpool recovered from conceding in the third minute to beat Aston Villa 2-1 and move level on points with Manchester City in the Premier

League title race. Sadio Mane scored the winner for Liverpool at Villa Park, heading home a cross from Luis Diaz in the

65th minute. … Real Betis defeated Valencia 3-0 in the Spanish league to end a four-match winless streak and keep alive its hopes of qualifying for the Champions League next season. … Manchester City agreed to sign Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund, bringing in one of the world’s most exciting young players as a belated replacemen­t for club great Sergio Aguero. The Norway striker will cost $63.2 million after City activated the release clause in his Dortmund contract.

Golf: The PGA Tour is denying releases to golfers who asked to play in the first of a series of Saudifunde­d tournament­s next month in England, a bold move by Commission­er

Jay Monahan in trying to quash Greg Norman’s latest bid to start a lucrative rival league. While the names of players who have signed up has not officially been released,

Phil Mickelson said through his agent he has asked for a conflictin­g event release to the London event, June 9-11.

Tennis: Novak Djokovic took another step toward regaining his top form with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Aslan Karatsev in his opening match at the Italian Open. The topranked Djokovic, who is bidding for a sixth Rome title, showed off some vintage scrambling abilities late in the first set when he ran down one shot near the net post then sprinted back across the net to dig out a low backhand volley winner. Diego Schwartzma­n, a finalist in Rome two years ago, saved two match points before eliminatin­g Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2,

3-6, 7-6 (3). In the women’s tournament, Amanda Anisimova, of Aventura, held off Czech qualifier Tereza Martincova 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 and will next play Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic. American qualifiers Madison Brengle and Lauren Davis both advanced in straight sets. Brengle beat fellow qualifier Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3 and Davis defeated 2017 French Open champion

6-2, 6-3.

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