NFL owners have 'a lot of problems' with Tom Brady and the Raiders
One of the biggest moves of the Las Vegas Raiders' offseason had nothing to do with what happens on the field and everything to do with what happens behind the scenes: Tom Brady's minority stake in ownership. The move brought a ton of attention to the Raiders organization once it was announced and the hope […]
One of the biggest moves of the Las Vegas Raiders' offseason had nothing to do with what happens on the field and everything to do with what happens behind the scenes: Tom Brady's minority stake in ownership.
The move brought a ton of attention to the Raiders organization once it was announced and the hope is that will continue. Brady is an international icon, so whomever or whatever he partners up with is bound to receive some major street cred.
Unless we are talking about FTX, of course.
In all seriousness, though, the partnership has hit a rough patch when it comes to NFL approval, per Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer:
"It’s got a lot of problems,” one owner told me of the agreement.
My understanding is Brady’s share of the Raiders would be around 6% of the franchise. This year, Forbes valued the franchise at $6.2 billion. So if you assume that to be a fair number, that stake of the team would be $372 million.
That’s relevant because the main source of pushback the Raiders are getting is that owners aren’t comfortable with the sale price. And as one of them explained to me, there’s no chance the league will rubber-stamp the way Brady was sold a quasi-ceremonial piece of both the Aces and Birmingham City, a second-division British soccer club that wanted the former quarterback as an investor to increase its visibility in the states.
Money is the driving force for most of the owners. More specifically, their only interest is in making sure every share of every team goes for as much as possible to boost their own teams’ valuations. And not only would a discount for Brady be counterproductive, it also wouldn’t bring much value to anyone but the Raiders.
The second piece of this is Brady’s job with Fox. On the surface, it’s easy to see why owners’ concerns would be valid. No team would want a minority owner from a rival team in its building meeting with its coaches and getting privileged information—the way most broadcasters do—simply to do their job at the level the NFL would expect of the people calling its games. – Albert Breer, Sports Illustrated
It all makes sense, but will it matter?
Yes, it will. Whenever an outsider wants to buy all or part of a team, it has to be approved through a certain process. The only time the process doesn't matter is if an owner passes away and leaves some or everything to a family member or members. Per Pro Football Talk, it's unlikely the league ever adopts a process for family members.
So, the NFL could easily reject Raiders owner Mark Davis' proposal to let Brady join in on the fun. 2/3 of owners have to give their approval, as well. So, if the magic number of 24 isn't reached, then there's nothing Brady can do. It's been reported that Brady is seeking to pay just $175 million for what amounts to a $525 million share, which is obviously a very steep discount.
How all this affects the Raiders' future plans remains to be seen, but considering the fact that Davis' net value is 29th out of 32, it may not be a bad idea for him to hold onto the $372 million that would automatically go to Brady in the proposed partnership.
You can check out Breer's full column, here.
