The legendary play-by-play voice weighed in on the quarterback’s reported deal with Fox.
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Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady sent shockwaves through the sports media industry when he agreed to join Fox as the lead NFL analyst following his retirement. Not only was the 44-year-old’s decision ground-breaking, but his reported contract was even more jaw-dropping.
According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Brady agreed to a 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox, earning him an average of $37.5 million annually. The deal would be the most lucrative in sports television history.
Fox did not officially disclose the terms of Brady’s contract.
Legendary play-by-play man Al Michaels took note of Brady’s reported deal earlier this year and recently spoke about it with Peter King of NBC Sports. The 77-year-old broadcaster expressed some skepticism about the contract being exclusively for calling games, but said he that he had no issue with the seven-time Super Bowl champion raking in a massive payday.
“The Brady deal, I don’t know whether the number is right,” Michaels told King. “I don’t know whether he’s a brand ambassador, whatever that’s supposed to mean. It can’t just be for doing games. It has to be other stuff. In a way, this is just the way it’s gone.
“I’ve always felt that the ruination of somebody especially if you’re on a team and the guy at the next locker is making $500,000 more than you and you’re all pissed off about that. Why? We’re all doing pretty well. Enjoy it. Especially at this point of my life, I mean, great. More power to anybody who can get whatever they get. That’s what the market will bear.”
Michaels himself benefitted from a boom in the sports broadcasting world this NFL offseason. The longtime NBC play-by-play voice departed the network to join Amazon for the entity’s new Thursday Night Football package. According to Marchand, Michaels signed a deal in the “Joe Buck neighborhood,” earning a five-year, $75 million deal with Amazon.
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