The GOAT is having a month to remember. Or maybe to forget.
Regardless, May 2024 isn’t likely to bring closure to his lingering effort to purchase a chunk of the Las Vegas Raiders. According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, it’s “doubtful” that a vote on the proposed transaction will be held at this week’s meetings in Nashville.
The deal was first struck in February 2023. Fifteen months later, the league still hasn’t voted on it.
It’s believed that the agreement as initially configured tied the equity transfer at least in part to employment. When the owners slammed the door last year on giving equity to employees — a rule change majority owner Mark Davis opposed in the meeting where it was discussed — the primary concern became the steep discount Brady would be getting.
Other concerns relate to Brady’s work with Fox as the network’s top game analyst. It’s a clear conflict of interest, since Brady will have a fiduciary duty to the Raiders and while also getting access to proprietary information regarding the team’s opponents and competitors. This isn’t about trusting him to keep his mouth shut; his status as an owner of the Raiders would compel him not to.
Last week, the league said that there are no limitations on the games Brady can work for Fox, because he’s “not an owner of the Raiders.” This implies that, once he is (if he is), things could change.
It’s hardly unfair to expect him to pick a lane. Minority of the Raiders or broadcaster of all teams. One of the other. Not both.
This isn’t about his accomplishments as a player. This is about precedent. It’s a bad one. And so, at a time when Brady seems to have too few people around him who are willing to say “bad idea” (e.g., to be roasted), at least nine owners must be willing to do what none of his friends, associates, and/or assorted yes men will.
