After years of (mostly) beating them on the football field, Tom Brady is besting quarterback-turned-sportscasters like Tony Romo, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning in the broadcast booth — even though he’s still playing in the NFL.
Following Tuesday morning’s surprise announcement that Brady has a deal to join Fox as the network’s lead NFL analyst immediately after he is done playing football (whenever that is), the amount that the 44-year-old is going to receive for his services was reported by The New York Post.
It is not an insignificant figure.
In fact, if Spotrac’s reporting about Brady’s career earnings in the NFL is correct, the seven-time Super Bowl winner is going to earn more calling games for Fox than he has made playing pro football for more than two decades. Per The Post, Brady’s deal with Fox Sports is for 10 years and $375 million, far more than the approximately $333 million he has earned in salary playing in the NFL.
Brady’s future salary from Fox is so enormous that it more than doubles what CBS’ Tony Romo and ESPN’s Troy Aikman average in annual salary combined per season (about $18 million each). Although it is unclear exactly what Brees earns from NBC and what Manning makes for hosting his Monday night ManningCast on ESPN2, Brady’s deal unquestionably blows them out of the water. (It is believed that Manning earns more than Romo but no exact numbers are known because it is a production deal with the former Colt and Bronco’s Omaha Productions company.)
Brady, who will also be a company ambassador and help aid in sponsorships and promotional activities for Fox, is insanely competitive and addicted to winning so it is almost a certainty that he made it a point to make sure his deal with Fox would be the largest contract in sportscasting history. The contract is also a leverage play for Brady against the Buccaneers and any other team that might be interested in acquiring his quarterbacking services after his contract is up with Tampa Bay following the upcoming season, as it will presumably take a lot more than $37.5 million per year to get him to keep playing NFL football.
Also, with two of the next three Super Bowls slated to air on Fox, there’s a possibility that Brady could go from playing in, and potentially winning, a Super Bowl one season to calling one from the booth the following year. That’s an opportunity Manning, Brees and the rest of Brady’s former peers no longer have — and there’s no doubt he’s aware of it.
Following news of Brady’s reported salary hitting the internet, Fox Sports released a statement refuting the rumored financial numbers.“What has been reported isn’t an accurate description of the deal and we have not released details beyond what was disclosed on our quarterly earnings call,” the company announced, via John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal.
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