Tom Brady is formally a Las Vegas Raider. More than once he first attempted to buy a minority stake in the group, the retired NFL boss was approved by other owners this day for a 5% acquisition of the franchise. So what comes next? How much influence will Brady have over controlling owner Mark Davis? And how will Brady’s intact role as a Fox analyst affect his front-office status?
CBS Sports analyst and former Raiders CEO Amy Trask spoke with CBSSports.com about Brady’s significant move and what it means from a realistic perspective moving forward.
Brady’s sensible position as a minority owner
The NFL requires that each and every group have a controlling owner; as Trask says, “a voice that can represent the franchise, vote for the franchise,” etc. But the Raiders even have, “regardless of league rules, a majority ownership interest.” It is created after Mark Davis, son of Al Davis, owner of the group from 1972 until his death in 2011; and Carol Davis, Al’s widow. Mark is “the voice of that family interest,” Trask explains, making him the group’s controlling owner.
Below Davis, there are other equity homeowners (some have been there for decades, Trask notes) who are fellow inmates but “do not have a controlling interest in the management of the Raiders franchise.” That’s where Brady comes into the equation, as a “limited partner.” And from a sensible perspective?
“Tom can have as much input as Mark wants him to have,” Trask says, “just like any limited partner.”
Davis, for what it’s worth, has already hinted that Brady could have an immediate hand in helping the Raiders land their quarterback of the year. And Trask assumes “Mark and Tom had those conversations [about his level of involvement] before the deal was done.” Regardless, it should be noted that “one would hope that Mark would also solicit input from Richard Seymour” and other “very, very smart men who care deeply about the Raiders” within the teams of restricted companies.
Jim Gray’s position in Brady society
Trask believes Gray, an award-winning sportscaster and co-host of “Let’s Go!” of Brady. podcast, “orchestrated” the former Super Bowl champion’s trade to become a Raiders spouse. It represents the entirety of a years-long attempt by Gray to negotiate a trade with the franchise.
“When I came back to the team,” says Trask, “Al Davis asked me to sell a substantial stake in the team, and while I was working through that process, Jim wanted to orchestrate a sale. Obviously it wasn’t with Tom that time… I thwarted him. [for business reasons]and I was very, very resentful of that. …Since Al passed away and Mark began the role he has now, it is very well understood in many circles that [Jim] is a very, very prominent voice in Mark’s ear.”
Conflicts from Brady’s position at Fox
Contrary to speculation that Brady’s intact process as an NFL broadcaster could negatively impact his association with the Raiders, or vice versa, Trask has few, if any, concerns about a potential entertainment fight.
“If Fox is copacetic, and if the league is now copacetic, and if the Raiders are copacetic, if those parties agree to this, that’s what matters,” he says, noting that, if she has been a flow government of the NFL, she would be fine if Brady’s broadcast had access to her team, as long as she was the spouse of any other NFL team. She is referring to the restrictions the NFL has already installed in the park referring to Brady’s Fox system, prohibiting him from attending production meetings in person or online, or having access to community facilities, players or coaches.
