Tom Brady's dual roles as Fox
Sports NFL analyst, Raiders limited owner continue to raise questions
[September 17, 2025]
By JOE REEDY
The questions about Tom Brady's dual roles as a Fox Sports NFL
analyst and partial owner of the Las Vegas Raiders have intensified
after he was shown in the team's coaching booth with a headset on
during a 20-9 loss Monday night to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks on Tuesday sidestepped any such questions
about the perception of a possible conflict of interest.
"I’m not going to answer that one. Good question, but not gonna
answer that,” Shanks said when asked during Front Office Sports'
Tuned In event if he could sympathize with Chicago Bears fans who
might see a conflict. Brady will be in Chicago on Sunday when the
Bears host the Dallas Cowboys. The following week, Chicago is at the
Raiders.
“I think if there’s a conversation that needs to be had after last
night, we’ll have it,” Shanks added.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an email to The Associated
Press that Brady was sitting in the booth Monday night in his
capacity as a Raiders limited partner.
“There are no policies that prohibit an owner from sitting in the
coaches’ booth or wearing a headset during a game," McCarthy said.
“All personnel sitting in the booth must abide by policies that
prohibit the use of electronic devices other than league-issued
equipment such as a Microsoft Surface Tablet for the Sideline
Viewing System."
Raiders coach Pete Carroll said he knew Brady would be in the booth
and pointed out that Brady also was in the booth when the Raiders
played the San Francisco 49ers in a preseason game on Aug. 16 in Las
Vegas.
Carroll said he understands the attention and concerns Monday
night's appearance has generated.
“I think Tom’s really tried to honor that strictly with the concerns
you’re talking about," Carroll said. “He is not planning games with
us. He is not talking to us about anything other than our
conversations that are really random. They’re not structured.
They’re not set up in any way. He knows. He’s very respectful of
what he does otherwise. He’s of the opinion he doesn’t want to be
that kind of factor and he’s not.”
Brady signed a 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox in May 2022
while still playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He retired after
that season and decided in February 2023 to take a year off before
moving into the booth last season. He was at the Raiders game on
Monday night after calling the Super Bowl rematch between the
Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
Whether Brady is at the Raiders' other two prime-time, non-Sunday
games remains to be seen. Las Vegas is at Denver on Thursday, Nov.
6, and then host Dallas on Monday, Nov. 17.
The NFL has previously placed restrictions on Brady in his role as a
broadcaster, though the league eased some of those this season.
Brady is now allowed to participate in production meetings with
teams ahead of a game, as long as they are conducted virtually or
via Zoom. He still isn’t allowed to watch another team's practices
or set foot in a team’s training complex.
The Brady rules were put in place because the seven-time Super
Bowl-winning quarterback has a 5% ownership stake in the Raiders.
Last season, Brady couldn't do production meetings until the Super
Bowl in New Orleans, when he was allowed to attend meetings with
Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles players and coaches. He
wasn’t able to view practices.
Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s executive vice president of media
distribution, said to the AP on Aug. 27 that this year's adjustments
felt like a natural step forward.
Brady still isn't allowed to be in another team's facility or hotel.
He can conduct an interview offsite with a player, which he did a
couple times last season.
[to top of second column] |
Washington Commanders owenr Josh Harris, right, talks with former
NFL quarterback Tom Brady, right, before the start of an NFL
football game against the New York Giants, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025, in
Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Many of the network broadcast crews have done their
production meetings with teams virtually, even though some still
prefer getting into a city on Fridays to watch the home team and
then talk to the visiting team at their hotel the next day.
Brady did not answer a question posed by AP on Monday night about
the easing of the broadcast restrictions. Instead, he discussed
taking part in a flag football tournament in March in Saudi Arabia.
Fox Sports analyst Greg Olsen, who also was a speaker at the Front
Office Sports event in New York, said it's up to the teams to decide
how to handle production meetings, whether it is with Brady or
another broadcast crew.
"There are some teams that are very guarded with their information,
and it doesn’t matter if you’re an owner of another team or not:
They give you very little on the calls. It’s the minority," Olsen
said. “The vast majority of the coaches, especially the ones that
you develop a good relationship with, are amazing on these calls.
They really give you great insight that does make a difference.
Every team can decide how they want to handle those, and whatever
factors they place value on, that impacts how they handle them,
that’s their every right to be as forthcoming or not so with the
production crews that they want."
Fox’s top crew of Brady, Kevin Burkhardt, Erin Andrews and Tom
Rinaldi opened the season with the matchup between the Washington
Commanders and New York Giants. Both teams face the Raiders later
this season, but Commanders coach Dan Quinn didn't seem fazed by
Brady's dual roles.
“It’s unique for sure, but they have a job to do, too, so I get that
like that’s our responsibility to help them give some insights, what
it could be, what could be there for the game. So, it’s really just
for this game, like that’s what I think about," Quinn said. "But not
just because of Tom calling it and his relationship obviously with
the Raiders, but really in every game because it’s just what do you
have to do to win this game? You know, the information here wouldn’t
be applied to another team in that way.”
Olsen, who was Fox's top NFL analyst before being supplanted by
Brady, said if he had the money to buy a stake in a team, he would
do it.
“I’m not a hater. I say more power to him,” Olsen said. “And if I’m
the Raiders and I have a minority owner like Tom Brady who I have
access to and he has the experience and I can pick his brain, you
would be silly not to. Why would you not utilize every resource and
every aspect of your organization to try to find that slight margin
to be the difference between winning and losing the game? So, from
the Raiders’ perspective, I don’t blame them for using Tom.”
___
AP Sports Writers Stephen Whyno in New York and Mark Anderson in Las
Vegas contributed to this story.
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