Tom Brady’s long road to becoming a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders has finally reached the finish line.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the NFL’s finance committee will consider Brady’s bid and ask other franchise owners to vote on it at the fall owners meeting in Atlanta on Tuesday. Brady will need the votes of at least 24 of the league’s 32 club owners.
ESPN presents this vote as a formality because the committee won’t put Brady’s ownership on the ballot if it’s unsure whether he’ll be approved. If Brady is confirmed, he will become the new owner of about 10% of the Raiders as part of a group that also includes financier Tom Wagner.
Brady was originally set to sign a deal with Raiders majority owner Mark Davis in May 2023, but was hit with hurdles over concerns he would be given a steep discount to his team’s stock, valued at $6.7 billion by Forbes magazine. Some speculated that the former quarterback was receiving a discount. It can be as high as 70%.
Eventually he cleared that hurdle by jacking up prices, and now he plans to join the world’s most lucrative sports league. Raiders stock is part of Brady’s expanding portfolio, which includes the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, English League One soccer club Birmingham City, the Hearts Team JOTA Racing team and the Major League Pickleball franchise. Also includes stocks.
Brady earned more than $300 million in contract money during his playing days, received millions more in endorsements, and just started a $375 million contract to call NFL games with Fox Sports. Understandably, other teams may not be keen on sharing operational insights with minority owners of other teams, so now that he has bought the franchise, that job with Fox may be somewhat friction may occur.
This situation is not unprecedented, and MLB teams have done similar things before with broadcasters who also serve as advisors to other teams.
