Fox Sports chief avoids tough Tom Brady question
Brady reportedly goes over offensive plans with Chip Kelly and was with the Raiders coaches during Monday's game. Conflict of interest?
Is Tom Brady’s dual roles as a Fox Sports broadcaster and an NFL minority owner a conflict of interest?
It’s a straightforward question, and one on the minds of NFL fans after Brady was captured by ESPN cameras alongside Las Vegas Raiders coaches wearing a headset during their loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football.
ESPN’s Peter Schrager reported Brady, a minority owner of the Raiders, has a very hands-on roll with Raiders offensive coordinator and former Eagles head coach Chip Kelly.
“Chip Kelly told us he talks to Brady two to three times a week,” Schrager reported. “They go through film, they go through the game plan, and Brady is a luxury for the coaches.”
This season, the NFL loosened its restrictions on Brady, allowing him to attend production meetings with teams remotely. He’s still banned from facilities and from attending teams’ practices due to the obvious advantages that could have for the Raiders.
For example, Brady is set to call Sunday’s Chicago Bears game against the Dallas Cowboys on Fox. The following week, the Raiders face the Bears in Las Vegas. It’s not inconceivable information he picks up about the Bears as part of his broadcasting job could be mentioned to his Raiders colleagues.
So, conflict of interest?
“Good question, but [I’m] not going to answer that,” Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks said when asked by Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel during their Tuned In summit Tuesday. “If there’s a conversation that needs to be had after [Monday] night, we’ll have it, absolutely.”
It doesn’t look like that will be necessary after the NFL said they don’t see any problem with Brady in the booth communicating with the Raiders’ coaches.
“There are no policies that prohibit an owner from sitting in the coaches’ booth or wearing a headset during a game,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in the statement. “Brady was sitting in the booth in his capacity as a limited partner.”
ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser, who served as a color analyst on Monday Night Football from 2006 to 2008, doesn’t think Brady’s dual role is a big deal yet, but “looks bad” for the NFL.
“When you’re in a broadcast crew, in order to make the broadcast better, you have access to players and coaches that other people don’t have … and you’re gleaning information,” Kornheiser said on Tuesday’s Pardon the Interruption. “If he had a different agenda, if his agenda is because he’s an owner of the Raiders, then he may be looking for certain kinds of information to pass along.”
Kornheiser suggested the NFL tighten its policy on Brady to prohibit him from talking to teams that face the Raiders within a two-week span, in order to squash any concerns over the seven-time Super Bowl champ double-dealing.
“There’s something that doesn’t look right,” Kornheiser added.
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This week, the Eagles will face the Los Angeles Rams on Fox, but it won’t be Brady in the booth. Instead, calling the game will be Joe Davis and Greg Olsen, whom Brady replaced in the top booth at Fox last season.
Olsen, who spent 14 seasons as a tight end with the Carolina Panthers before making the transition to broadcasting, doesn’t have any issues with Brady being an owner and an announcer, saying it’s up to individual teams to decide how much information they provide.
“There are some teams that are very guarded with their information … They give you very little on the calls,” Olsen said at a sports media summit hosted by Front Office Sports Tuesday. “How these teams handle their own personal meetings, that’s up to them … Let them handle it how they want.”
The Eagles aren’t done with Brady. He’s currently scheduled to call Birds-Cowboys in Week 12 on Nov. 23 alongside Kevin Burkhardt. The Eagles will then face the Raiders three weeks later on Dec. 14.