Skip Bayless implores Tom Brady to ditch Raiders ownership bid for Fox

With severe restrictions being placed on Tom Brady’s access to NFL teams, Skip Bayless is urging him to drop his Las Vegas Raiders ownership bid for Fox.

Brady is scheduled to make his NFL analyst debut in just over a week for Fox. He and play-by-play voice Kevin Burkhardt will call the Dallas Cowboys’ matchup with the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, Sept. 8. But as of now, Brady will be calling the game and every game on his schedule for Fox with restricted access because of his pending bid to become part owner of the Raiders.

Following news of the limited access, Bayless urged Brady to prioritize his $375 million Fox deal and put his ownership interests on hold.

“Tom Brady owes it to Fox to put his Raiders ownership bid on hold while he tries broadcasting,” Bayless wrote. “As a 10% owner, the league restrictions on him would make it very difficult to do his TV job the way he surely wants to do it.”

As a former Fox employee, Bayless is correct in his plea to Brady. The seven-time Super Bowl champion spent an entire year preparing for his Fox debut, and attempting to do the job with league restrictions would be doing himself a severe disservice.

Raiders owner Mark Davis reached an agreement for Brady to join the team’s ownership group in May 2023, but the NFL has not approved the transaction. Because the pending bid still gives Brady reason to allegiance to the Raiders, the NFL will restrict Fox’s top analyst from receiving access to team facilities, players, or coaches and prevent him from attending in-person or remote production meetings. Brady will also be prohibited from criticizing officials and other teams. That sounds like a terrible recipe for an analyst.

The access restrictions are meant to prevent Brady from receiving confidential information that could be beneficial to the Raiders. As an NFL analyst, Brady owes it to the fans to call games without the ability to prepare for a game broadcast fully. As a Fox employee, Brady owes it to the network to call a game without restricted access. And as a pending Raiders owner, Brady owes it to the Las Vegas NFL franchise to provide them with any helpful information that he receives.

It’s a tough call. Why would he want to give up the opportunity to invest in an NFL franchise at an apparent discount? But the conflict of interest is blatantly obvious. Maybe Fox doesn’t mind, but for Brady, who has repeatedly cited his desire to prepare for this job, he should mind.

[ Skip Bayless ]

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