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The question of what would become of this first wave of generationally wealthy, name-brand athlete-superstars has always been fascinating, but recently Tom Brady has made it look exhausting.
In Brady, as well as contemporaries like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Peyton Manning and Alex Rodriguez, we see a generation that received the bounties of sports becoming a massive capital asset, wresting back control of their celebrity and the value they created, in some cases even joining the ranks of owners themselves. Already hugely famous and rich, they had no need to leap straight into television or coaching in order to pay the bills or stay relevant.
Brady bided his time, going largely radio silent for the first year or so after finally retiring for good. Then, suddenly, he was everywhere, starting around the time he signed an historic 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox Sports. The intrigue around finally hearing from Brady faded relatively quickly, though not without genuine insights into the NFL, competition, and longevity. This first portion of Brady’s reawakening ended roughly when he signed on for a Netflix roast that rehashed his private life and several messy scandals from the Patriots dynasty; he then apologized publicly to his family for participating.
Around this time, Brady became an actually strong game analyst. The quarterback’s Rumspringa could have ended here, giving way to a more subtle middle age in which Brady could dazzle us each Sunday during America’s Game of the Week while continuing to quietly clone his dogs and gobble up money. In actuality, it was just the beginning.
The roughly 18 months since have instead proven Brady’s insatiable thirst for attention and wealth. In partnership with Fox and the Saudi Arabian government, he hosted a flag football game with NFL stars this past spring that mercifully was moved from Riyadh to Los Angeles. Almost nobody watched, and attendance was poor.
The Saudis and another of Brady’s partners for the game, Fanatics, have gone back to the Brady well repeatedly in the months since. The partnership came to a head this week in New York for Fanatics Fest, where Brady followed up on a podcast diss from prank YouTuber turned WWE superstar Logan Paul and, after teasing a forthcoming angle with the pro wrestling company, slapped Paul in the face. Then the bit spilled into the stands of yesterday’s World Cup final. Riyadh will host WrestleMania 43 next April.
To be fair, none of Brady’s cohort of living sports legends have been satisfied with quiet retirement. A-Rod bought an NBA franchise, hosts a Bloomberg podcast, and does the World Series studio show. LeBron will soon follow in similar footsteps. Durant runs a content brand and has invested in a drone manufacturing startup. Manning may have followed the most normal path, though he still is one of ESPN’s highest-paid partners while continuing to invest and act.
Brady, though, is by far the most shameless. From gambling and prediction markets to foreign investment funds to crypto, there is no bridge too far for Brady if the money is good. The New England great partners with DraftKings on an NFT marketplace, was sued for promoting FTX, and hawks GLP-1s. He also openly abuses his lucrative job as a broadcaster to further his cause as part-owner and lead executive of the Las Vegas Raiders.
As we prepare ourselves for the build-up to a Saudi WrestleMania next spring and potentially Brady vs. Paul in the ring, we are in a new, more depraved phase of Brady’s post-playing career extravaganza. It turns out that the exceptional fame and resources Brady amassed in his career did not lead him to rethink how aging athletes could influence the world. Merely, it raised the stakes of Brady’s tireless pursuit of even more of all of it.
