Tom Brady is headed to the broadcast booth as Troy Aikman’s replacement on Fox Sports.
Brady will join Fox as its lead NFL game analyst as soon as his playing career ends, it was announced Tuesday. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB announced his retirement from football earlier this year but abruptly reversed that decision within weeks.
The surprise announcement included the first official acknowledgment by Fox Sports that Kevin Burkhardt will be its lead NFL play-by-play voice.
It is still not clear who will work alongside Burkhardt on FOX games this season. Given that FOX airs the Super Bowl this season, the role of lead analyst is particularly important. It is also unclear how soon after Brady’s retirement he will join the broadcast booth — for example, if Tampa Bay were to miss the playoffs and Brady retired immediately following the regular season — or whether Brady will have any FOX TV role during his bye week.
Much like Peyton Manning before him, Brady had been highly sought after in the days after his initial retirement. FOX winning his services surely takes some of the sting out of falling short in its pursuit of Manning — or even Tony Romo five years ago. It also surely takes some of the sting out of losing its longtime broadcast booth of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to ESPN.
It is far from unusual for a network to acquire a player’s services during their playing career. Fox signed Greg Olsen while he was still playing, NBC hired Drew Brees ahead of his final season, and TNT employs Golden State Warriors F Draymond Green as an NBA analyst. Brady is by far the highest profile of these hires.
[News from Fox Sports]
