Tom Brady has an undeniable conflict of interest in his dual roles as a Fox broadcaster and an owner of the Raiders. The subjective opinions of active players (some of whom may eventually want to sign with the Raiders) don’t change that. And Tuesday’s comments from new Raiders coach Klint Kubiak highlight the manner in which Brady’s day job could benefit his side hustle.
“He made the mistake of giving me his cell phone number, so he might wish he never did that because I’m going to be calling him a lot,” Kubiak told reporters.
As those in the know know well, finagling Brady’s cell phone number could be a coup on par with winning the Super Bowl. And if Brady is willing to take repeated calls from Kubiak, Brady will be in position to leverage the various things he sees and hears in his job with Fox to Kubiak’s benefit.
Within the confines of a given season, Brady is privy to specific information about upcoming opponents, and general information about new trends and dynamics, as they unfold one week at a time. But Brady is also able to get a close look at players and assistant coaches whom the Raiders may eventually want to employ.
Consider this recent observation from former NFL player Adam Archuleta, who currently calls NFL games.
“Tom absolutely has an advantage that no other owner gets,” Archuleta said. “It’s not stealing plays. It’s the access — talking ball with players and coaches week after week, guys who could end up on your team someday. I’ve done 7+ years of production meetings, practices, pre-game sits, interviews. . . . I can tell you in one conversation if a guy’s a locker room plus, someone I’d WANT on my team. Big help in free agency — no team has access to players before it starts without tampering. ESPECIALLY with coaches — that’s the biggest edge. Coaches can’t talk ball with coaches from other staffs — they’re competing, so they stay in their bubble. We get access to ALL of them. New ideas, different ways to build, relationships — honestly one of my favorite parts of the job. At least they keep him out of facilities and practices — that would be a GAME CHANGER. But a football mind like his picking up insights every week from those chats? Big time EDGE.”
Most downplayed if not flat-out disputed the clear conflict of interest until the night Brady showed up on camera, sitting with Raiders coaches watching a tablet and wearing a headset during a Monday night game against the Chargers. For many, those images brought the issue to life.
Those who choose to dismiss the conflict point to the fact that the Raiders have stunk on Brady’s $500,000 watch. The moment the Raiders become a consistent contender, however, other teams will complain. They’ll question whether and to what extent Brady is parlaying his unique access into a real advantage for the Raiders.
Count on it. Start a prediction market about it. Brady’s conflict of interest will be ignored unless and until the Raiders become a Super Bowl contender. At that point, those who were asleep at the switch when Brady engineered an unprecedented combination of broadcaster and owner will wake up. They’ll propose a rule change. They’ll want him to have to choose between resigning from Fox or selling his piece of the Raiders.
In other words, they’ll say all the things they should have said when Brady’s effort to buy a piece of the Raiders was still pending.
