Clarity over Tom Brady’s official start date for Fox Sports. Plus: All the Super Bowl ad spots have been filled, with cryptocurrency being left out; A favorite guest NASCAR analyst will become a permanent one in 2024; and more sports media news.
Brady FOX debut set for 2024
While being interviewed on Colin Cowherd’s The Herd, Tom Brady announced that he will begin his duties as FOX’s number one NFL analyst in the fall of 2024. Brady said he would be taking time to not only prepare for the new role, but to “catch up on other parts of my life that need some time and energy.” Brady signed a 10-year $375 million deal with Fox Sports to be their number one analyst effective post-retirement. Brady’s “gap year” would mean that current analyst Greg Olsen, who will call the Super Bowl with play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt, will remain in his role for another year. (Fox Sports 2.6, The Herd/Twitter 2.6)
Super Bowl ads sold out with no crypto ad buys
FOX officially announced that all Super Bowl in-game advertisement slots have been sold, with most going between six and seven million dollars. Anheuser-Busch, while still the largest advertiser, no longer holds the exclusive alcohol advertiser rights, with many alcoholic companies taking advantage. Perhaps most notable though is that a year after the “Crypto Bowl,” not a single Super Bowl ad was bought by a cryptocurrency company. According to an AP report, while a few companies were in negotiations for an ad spot, once FTX, valued at $32 billion during the last Super Bowl, declared bankruptcy, all cryptocurrency companies immediately pulled back their bids. (AP 2.6)
Harvick to join FOX full-time in 2024
After serving as a guest analyst for eight years, NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick will join Fox Sports full-time in 2024 immediately following his retirement. In 2015, Fox Sports launched their Drivers Only broadcasts, and Harvick would become one of their most common analysts, calling 25 races since then. For 2023, his schedule will remain unchanged, appearing on FS1 for four Xfinity Series and three Truck Series races. In 2024 Harvick will join the booth of play-by-play man Mike Joy and analyst Clint Bowyer, Harvick’s former on-track teammate. (Fox Sports 2.6)
Plus: NBA CBA, Suns/Mercury sale, FOX graphics debut
The NBA and NBAPA have announced another extension to the CBA deadline, this time to March 31, as the two sides get closer to a new labor agreement. … The Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury have officially been sold to mortgage executive Mat Ishbia at a $4 billion evaluation. … FOX will debut a new graphics package on Super Bowl Sunday according to Timothy Burke of The Daily Beast. (Wojnarowski 2.6, SI 2.6, Burke/Twitter 2.3)
