Former Michigan football quarterback Tom Brady is being paid $37.5 million per year to call NFL games as a Fox Sports broadcaster. It was a common question to ask if the value was worth it when reports came out that Brady signed a 10-year deal worth $375 million with the network.
After all, how many people are tuning into a game to hear Brady’s point of view for a football game?
Tom Brady helped Michigan football gain a star recruit
Brady’s brand is certainly good for the network. It’s also good for the Wolverines. Per a report Friday by Matt Zenitz with CBS Sports, Brady helped flip the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 class, quarterback Bryce Underwood, from the LSU Tigers to Michigan.
“During the final stretch of Michigan’s aggressive, months-long push to land No. 1 class of 2025 recruit Bryce Underwood, the Wolverines enlisted none other than NFL legend and former Michigan quarterback Tom Brady,” Zenitz wrote. A FaceTime conversation between Brady and Underwood a few weeks ago marked the beginning of their relationship, which grew over multiple conversations, sources told CBS Sports.”
$12 million in NIL funding also played a factor in Underwood’s decision.
A Fox broadcaster helped a Big Ten school add a star player
Brady has helped Michigan secure NIL funding, which wouldn’t normally be a big deal. Former players often help their schools. But former players aren’t always being paid $37.5 million per year by a network that has rights to certain college football conferences, but not the SEC.
The Big Ten has a seven-year $8 billion deal with NBC, Fox, and CBS to broadcast their games. Ratings are higher than ever for the “Big Noon Kickoff game.
Those ratings will likely be higher for the network when the No. 1 recruit for the 2025 plays at Michigan. If Underwood had gone to LSU, ESPN would have stood to profit from higher ratings from the future NFL prospect.
Essentially, Brady’s marketing efforts to lure a kid from the SEC to the Big Ten helped his former school and his current employer.
Brady is perfectly well within his rights to help Michigan’s program. But it feels like another conflict of interest for Brady and Fox Sports in the NIL and gambling era of football.
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