“Until now he’s been able to control everything about his very limited but successful foray into media, whether it be his self-produced documentaries or social media posts.
“It fails if he has so many other things in his life and he can’t make the full commitment to learning this craft and being great,” said the source.
Multiple people in the business, including those who negotiate these kinds of deals, all predicted Brady’s salary will surpass $20 million annually at a minimum.
In March Amazon Prime Video formally announced that Al Michaels, the longtime voice of Sunday Night Football, and ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit had joined Prime Video to call its upcoming exclusive coverage of “Thursday Night Football.” Joe Davis replaced Buck as the voice of the World Series.
Not that Brady wanting to be involved in sports broadcasting in some way is surprising — that was foreseeable, given his interests in Hollywood and media — but for Brady to commit to Fox Sports for a full season of games that includes the grind of travel and everything else that comes with that job is not something most people in the industry expected.
It’s a bold move for Fox, but it comes with something that can’t be duplicated: They just hired the most famous football player on planet Earth, and the tune-in factor early will be massive, as will Brady’s ability to be used at promotional corporate outings.
As one well-connected Fox Sports staffer told me: Top management looked at their NFL analyst roster last year as Aikman and Olsen in the top tier, and then others in tiers below.
What matters long-term is that Fox has landed the most famous football player in America — and that gives its NFL production a ton of places to go.
Episode 203 of the Sports Media Podcast features Larry Collmus, the race caller for the NBC Sports Group coverage of the Triple Crown , and Breeders’ Cup.
The highest-rated local TV markets for the Derby were Louisville, Fort Myers, Cincinnati, West Palm Beach, Buffalo and Baltimore.
