Inside the secret talks and future of Tom Brady and Fox Sports

PHOENIX — To preserve the secrecy of Tom Brady’s deal with Fox Sports, the network used outside lawyers, according to sources.
Besides the Murdochs, the only ones at Fox Sports who knew about the complicated negotiations last spring were the network’s CEO Eric Shanks and its executive producer Brad Zager. Brady and Fox Sports disguised their plan as if it were out of Bill Belichick’s playbook.
“It all came together,” Shanks said on “The Marchand & Ourand Sports Media Podcast”.
It culminated last May when Fox’s CEO Lachlan Murdoch on the company’s earnings call shocked sports media and the NFL with the news of the Brady signing. The terms were not announced, but, soon after, The Post exclusively reported it was for 10 years and $375 million.
Speaking for the first time extensively about the move, Shanks appeared with Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand and me on our podcast this week, while Zager in a separate interview with The Post went into Fox Sports’ thinking. This, combined with not-for-attribution interviews, gives insight into the why and how of the largest contract in sportscasting history. And digs into the lingering question if Brady will actually ever end up in the booth.
On Monday during FS1’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” Brady announced that he will take a gap year and then his plan is to begin in the booth in the fall of 2024.
Tom Brady walking off the field after a Buccaneers’ playoff win over the Eagles. USA TODAY Sports
In the meantime, Shanks, Zager and everyone at Fox Sports loves Greg Olsen, who in just his second year as a full-time NFL TV game analyst, will call Super Bowl 2023 with Kevin Burkhardt on Sunday.
Brady’s $375 million contract is more than the $330 million Brady made as a player. The negotiations were spearheaded on Brady’s side by his football agent, Don Yee. According to sources, the offer grew to a point where Brady felt he had to take it. The numbers and the fact that these jobs do not open that often were too much to resist.
If not for Brady’s 40-day retirement last offseason, when negotiations first started, the secret talks between Fox and Brady would likely never have happened. Fox took that opening to start speaking with Brady.
Fox wanted Brady because he is the unquestioned greatest of all-time, but also because he sees so much on the field. Just like Peyton Manning on “Monday Night Football” broadcasts with his brother, Eli, Zager believes Brady’s football mind will translate to fans at a higher level.
Tom Brady at the “80 for Brady” premiere. REUTERS
“I think that you start with the fact that you talk to everybody who’s ever played with him, sat with him, watched tape with him and you just hear about the way that he processes the game,” Zager said. “The way he sees it to be successful at his level and the ability to bring that to viewers, I think it’s going to be pretty fun for them to be able to just listen to the greatest quarterback of all time – and it’s a quarterback league.”
After Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left for ESPN for five-year deals that totaled $165 million combined, Fox felt confident in Olsen. However, they did reach out to Philip Rivers representatives, according to sources, but he was uninterested. It then turned its attention to Brady, beginning talks with him when he retired.
After Brady returned to the Bucs in March, Zager said to Shanks that they had signed active players to future contracts, with Olsen, who was inked for the No. 2 spot behind Aikman prior to Olsen’s final year as tight end, being a prime example. The network scooped up Michael Strahan when he was still with the Giants. There have been others.
Shanks said, even after Brady committed to another year at quarterback, they asked Brady if he would be open to continue the conversations about post-playing. Brady was amenable, though he had said previously told The Wall Street Journal, he wasn’t that interested in being in the booth.
Greg Olsen is holding down Fox’s analyst role in the top booth for now. Getty Images
The history of the greatest quarterbacks of the modern era from Peyton to Dan Marino to Joe Montana to Aikman have all included becoming some form of an NFL TV analyst. Only John Elway and Brett Favre – who failed a tryout for “Monday Night Football” – are among all-timers who haven’t done it. The negotiations were kept out of the press, as when Brady returned to Tampa, it seemed like Brady wasn’t an option.
Brady is building his own media empire to rival Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions. Brady said this week he signed up to continue his weekly “Let’s Go!” podcast on SiriusXM and his new movie in theaters, “80 for Brady” has his company, 199 Productions, as one of the producers.
But the biggest post-playing intrigue for Brady will be how the Fox drama unfolds. There are still some questions if this is just a hedge for Brady – and maybe he actually never does it.
“Take some time to really learn, become great at what I want to do, become great about thinking about the opportunity, and making sure I don’t rush into anything,” Brady told Cowherd. “When people really bet on me, whether it was when I was drafted by the Patriots or signing in free agency with the Bucs, I wanted to be fully committed and I never wanted to let people down.
Tom Brady during his retirement video Twitter
The deal is described as “complicated,” but between it being Brady, the money and now what Olsen has brought it will be a challenge for No. 12.
“He’s already saying he wants to be the greatest to ever do this, as well,” Shanks said. “From all indications, from what everyone has said, he is one of the most amazing teammates you could ever have.”