With his career playing football in the NFL now over for the second time, Tom Brady is getting ready for the next phase of his life and his new gig as the highest-paid broadcaster in sports. As the 45-year-old revealed yesterday to Colin Cowherd on The Herd, it’s going to take him more than a year to get ready and he doesn’t anticipate making his on-air debut for Fox Sports until the 2024’s NFL season because he wants to “take some time to really learn and become great at what I want to do.”
That’s assuming, of course, that Fox still wants Brady to do anything.
With Troy Aikman and Joe Buck leaving for ESPN prior to this season, Fox turned to former tight end Greg Olsen (color) and Kevin Burkhardt (play-by-play) as their No. 1 broadcast team on Sundays and they have impressed thus far. The Olsen-Burkhardt pairing will have an opportunity to cement itself as broadcast royalty when the duo calls Super LVII between the Chiefs and Eagles on Fox on Sunday. “I’ll be 50% watching the game, and 50% listening to those two,” Brady said.
A good call of a great game on Sunday would go a long way to establishing Olsen with casual football viewers and could make it a lot tougher for Fox to replace him with Brady following next season. Even before Brady made his announcement about pushing his start date back to 2024, Olsen sounded as if he had no intention of making the decision to replace him an easy one.
Burkhardt is also in no rush for Olsen to depart and have Brady take his spot.
“The reality is, other than being asked in every media interview that I have done, and I mean this on or off the record, I have not thought about Tom Brady as a broadcaster for 10 fucking seconds,” Burkhardt told the Sports Business Journal. “I just felt like it was out of bounds for me to be doing this right now and living in the moment and then texting Tom on the side, like, ‘Can’t wait for you to come, buddy.’”
Another thing to keep an eye on when it comes to the incestuous world of broadcasting is Tony Romo’s status at CBS as network executives have reportedly been displeased with his recent performance alongside Jim Nantz. Should Romo be demoted and his spot on the No. 1 team at CBS be up for grabs, Olsen might be able to take it and leave the Brady drama behind.
Robert Kraft’s Attempt to Lure Back Tom Brady Comes Three Years Too Late
Kraft wants Brady to sign a one-day contract and retire as a Patriot“Olsen has his future in his hands,” per The New York Post. “His contract, according to sources, allows him to leave if there is a No. 1 job around. He could end up being this generation’s Cris Collinsworth — having a long, lucrative career, despite not having played quarterback or for the Cowboys or in New York. People love an underdog — especially if the person delivers.”
Olsen will have his chance to deliver on Sunday, and we’re betting that he will.
“I hope when that ball’s kicked off in the Super Bowl, I feel no different than I did in Week 1 or the divisional round,” Olsen told The Athletic. “There’s going to be nerves, there’s going to be excitement. There’s nothing like the Super Bowl. I think back to playing in it. It was unlike any game I’ve ever been a part of. But when the ball kicks off, if you’re prepared, if you’re confident, if you’re clear-minded, once the game starts, that’s the easy part.”
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