Why Tom Brady isn’t calling Super Bowl 57 for Fox
If you’re waiting to hear and see Tom Brady on a Fox show, you’ll be waiting more than a little.
The GOAT quarterback announced his retirement from the NFL in February and once again retired from the game in search of greener pastures — and a whole lot of greenery.
The last point is particularly salient. Brady signed with Fox for 10 years and $375 million, big numbers not only for broadcasters but also for NFL players. So why is Fox’s potential golden goose sitting on the sidelines at the biggest game of the year?
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Why isn’t Tom Brady calling for Super Bowl 57 for Fox?
A decent reason has to do with Brady choosing not to. Brady is taking a gap year to focus on his family and other interests before jumping into broadcasting. He says he really needs to get into the role next year before he takes the mic.
“(I want) to take some time to really learn to be great at what I really want to do [and] I’m going to be great at thinking about the opportunity and making sure I don’t rush things,” Brady said on a recent episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd (a program on Fox Sports).
“I think if people really bet on me; one thing about my career — whether I was drafted into the Patriots or signed privately with the Bucs — I want to be fully committed and I never wanted to let people down. I think that was my biggest motivator,” he added.
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Another part of the equation is that Fox protects its investment. Getting into a threesome, both with two other people you probably wouldn’t have chemistry with during the biggest sporting event of the year, could be a recipe for disaster.
Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported exactly this situation:
“As for this Super Bowl being played on Fox, all indications are that the network executives are not going to put him in the dressing room. They know that with their $375 million investment it would be foolish and unwise to try a three-man setup for the first time with 100 million viewers,” Marchand wrote. “If Brady were unstable, he would immediately raise more questions, why Fox (Greg) is replacing Olsen with him. And that investment could quickly look bad.”
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There’s also the tight elephant in the room, Fox’s current #1 color analyst. Olsen had a breakout season as part of the network’s No. 1 team, and he recently made it clear he’s not too keen on the idea of being removed from the team.
In any case, Brady will have the opportunity to declare a Super Bowl in the near future, with the network hosting Super Bowl 59 in 2025.
The network can only hope Brady doesn’t decide to relace them by then.