NFL Rumors: Tom Brady’s Bid to Own Raiders Stake Unlikely to Be Voted on Next Week

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVMarch 20, 2024

Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images

Tom Brady likely won’t be purchasing a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders this month.

According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, “NFL team owners are unlikely to take a vote at next week’s annual league meeting to approve Brady’s bid to become a part owner of the Raiders.”

Brady and Knighthead Capital Management co-founder Tom Wagner are attempting to buy a 10 percent stake in the Raiders, but NFL owners have two main issues with the bid, per Maske.

The first is that principal owner Mark Davis has reportedly offered Brady a discounted price beyond the norm, raising concerns with the league’s finance committee.

However, in February Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported that “Brady’s pending investment in the Raiders was recently altered to reflect the proper valuation of the team, and league sources say he has reached the threshold to clear the NFL’s hurdles and officially join the ranks of ownership.”

Michael McCann @McCannSportsLawTom Brady ups the value of his bid to own a piece of the Raiders, @novy_williams reports, after some NFL owners complained the initial price was well below market value. Brady might have had an antitrust case (price fixing) but instead he’ll pay more: https://t.co/GAwc57G0zq.

So perhaps that concern has been addressed, though Maske reported it’s “not clear whether the finance committee is satisfied” with Brady and Wagner’s attempts to soothe those concerns over the deal.

“The matter remains under review by the finance committee,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Tuesday.

The second issue is the potential conflict of interest given Brady’s upcoming role as a television analyst for Fox’s NFL broadcasts. As Maske reported, “some owners might be reluctant to allow Brady, if he is a part owner of the Raiders, into their training facilities or onto their practice fields as part of his broadcast preparations.”

It’s a fair point. Information is power in the NFL, and most teams wouldn’t want to give Brady a glimpse at their operation, where he could glean information and pass it back to the Raiders.

The seven-time Super Bowl champion has already been working with the team in an unofficial advisory role, as Pelissero reported in February, helping Davis in the team’s coaching search. But an ownership stake is obviously a far more significant role within the organization, even if he wouldn’t directly be making decisions. That conflict of interest is tough to rectify.

It sounds as though the owners will delay the decision yet again, which isn’t a great sign for Brady’s ownership efforts. He’ll need 24 of the league’s 32 owners to approve his ownership stake, though it’s a moot point until a vote is actually held.