OK, seriously – has Tom Brady been able to hurt anyone at ESPN? Has ESPN tied up a large chunk of its investment in Brady? Wait – actually, yes, they do. That should explain the PR puff piece They posted in the Bucs QB just a week after news broke that Brady was planning to become a part owner of the Dolphins and negotiate a trade deal with Miami, a plan thwarted by his former coach’s ill-timed message to Brian Flores , launching a massive lawsuit against the Dolphins and the NFL. Do we get a mention of this? No of course not.
But I’m sure you’ll be interested to know that Brady’s performance clothing brand is launching a golf collection. To be honest, that’s the biggest takeaway we get here as the rest of his interview is filled with predictable quotes including, “I wanted to give myself and my teammates and our organization another incredible opportunity to achieve something that we would all be very proud to achieve” and “Ultimately I just love to compete on the pitch” and of course “I knew physically my body can still do what it can and obviously I have a love for the game, me think I will always have a love for the game.”
Yes, yes, blah, blah, blah. No ill feelings towards Brady or anything, but last night’s piece was followed by what was essentially a press release from ESPN on Brady’s new golf apparel line and NIL sponsorship. Nothing about the Dolphins, nothing about Flores, or Stephen Ross, or Bill Belichick, or even Bruce Arian’s retirement. No Brady comment, no author attribution. So all in all nothing.
Brady’s father, Tom Sr., has placed some blame on ESPN’s coverage of pushing the veteran QB to make his initial retirement announcement, as Adam Schefter broke the news in a timeline that has become very blurry, particularly with the revelation that Brady never really planned to retire. So maybe ESPN is trying to regain some ground or make amends?
But really, they have a vested interest in Brady’s product. his documentaries, man in the arena, aired exclusively on ESPN+ — and if they did that before the end of his career, imagine the Brady content they’re hoping to stuff down our throats for the next half century. Earlier this month, ESPN announced its first-ever NFT deal with Brady’s company, Autograph. They’ve no doubt poured some money into the guy, and with that level of notoriety, they’re not looking to get off anytime soon.
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God knows how long we must agonize over His new ventures or what He wants to talk about on any given day. To be fair to ESPN, he probably wouldn’t agree to speak to anyone who insisted on asking real questions.
