After rumors began spreading over a year ago, the NFL finally approved former NFL quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. Since players cannot hold a stake in NFL franchises, this means that his playing career is officially over.
The 47-year-old’s bid to buy into the franchise was finally approved during the league’s fall meeting in Atlanta on Tuesday, securing the minimum 24 votes needed to push it forward. Brady bought a 10% stake in the Raiders, whose majority owner, Al Davis and his wife Carol, holds 47%. Brady’s eventual inclusion in the group looked more likely to happen when Brady purchased a stake in the Las Vegas Aces, the 2022 and 2023 WNBA champions, also owned by the Davises, back in March.
The ownership stake mandates that Brady will have substantial restrictions in his new job as a broadcaster, where he just began his 10-year, $375 million deal with FOX as an NFL color commentator.
His new restrictions mean that Brady cannot:
- Visit another team’s facility
- Witness team practices
- Attend broadcast production meetings in person or virtually)
- Publicly criticize game officials or other teams
- And, he is subject to the NFL’s gambling and anti-tampering policies
The restrictions have been in place since August, going into place ahead of Brady’s first year as FOX’s lead NFL analyst. Other FOX staff are not subject to these limitations.
The NFL legend will join an elite list of former professional athletes to buy a stake in professional sports teams, including Michael Jordan (who sold the Charlotte Hornets last year for $3 billion), Alex Rodriguez and Magic Johnson. Brady, a future NFL Hall of Famer, also owns stakes in Birmingham City in the EFL Championship, the Las Vegas Night Owls in the Major League Pickleball and an E1 Series electric boat racing team.