When Fox handed Tom Brady a monster $375-million, 10-year deal to become a part of their NFL broadcast team once he retires, it seemed like a pretty desperate move.
After all, we’re talking $37-million a year to call one NFL game each week. That’s more than any NFL player will make this season, outside of Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Dak Prescott and Deshaun Watson. It’s also nearly $20-million more per year than the contracts that Tony Romo and Troy Aikman were handed this offseason by CBS and ESPN, respectively — which, at the time, were the highest ever given out in their profession.
It’s very likely that Fox entered desperation mode after they lost Aikman and Joe Buck to Monday Night Football. And the only way for them to get out of it was to back the brinks truck up for the GOAT.
There’s no denying that Brady is by far the biggest name in football right now, so having him on your team (even if that’s a broadcast team) can be very beneficial. But is he really worth $375 million while working in a press box?
According to former ESPN president John Skipper, no, he is not. While appearing on the Dan Le Bartard Show With Stugotz, Skipper was asked for his thoughts on Brady’s contract, which he described as “amusement,” because of the fact that Brady is actually making $12.5-million more to call games than he’s getting paid to actually quarterback the game.
“Being paid more money to talk during a three hour football game, there’s very little economic value. He’s a very, very, very expensive trophy.”
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Skipper also accused Fox of “bidding against themselves” and “buying a trophy.”
“Seriously, for $375 million, you could have bought some live event rights, which would actually make a significant difference,” Skipper told Le Batard and David Samson. “It does not make significant difference other than pride and ambassadorship to put somebody in the booth for $37.5 million dollars.”
Skipper also suggested that, despite having no prior experience in the broadcast booth, Brady likely felt he had to be paid more than the likes of Aikman and Romo because of his “pride.” The former ESPN boss pointed out that he never felt the need to spend more than $10-million on a member of his broadcast team during his time with the network, as he would rather pay a proven professional like Mike Tirico — and doesn’t understand the need to spend eight-figures on a former player just to sit beside him.
You can check out the full interview in the above video. We’ve cued it up for you to start at the beginning of their convo surrounding Brady’s contract.
