Brady reaches agreement to buy stake in Raiders

Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff WriterMay 22, 2023, 07:30 PM ET
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- Covered Oakland Raiders for CSNBayArea.com and Sacramento Bee for eight years
- Member of Pro Football Writers Association
- Previously worked at Los Angeles Times, Las Vegas Review-Journal and Sports Illustrated

HENDERSON, Nev. — Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis acknowledged Monday he has “come to an agreement” with Tom Brady for the retired quarterback and future Pro Football Hall of Famer to join the organization’s ownership group, pending NFL approval.

“We’re excited for Tom to join the Raiders,” Davis told ESPN in a phone call from the NFL spring meeting in Minneapolis, “and it’s exciting because he will be just the third player in the history of the National Football League to become an owner.”

The other two: George Halas and Jerry Richardson.

Davis, though, had no comment when asked if Brady finally admitted to him if the Tuck Rule play was actually a fumble.

The play, in an AFC divisional playoff game at the New England Patriots on Jan. 19, 2002, launched Brady and the Pats as a dynasty while hastening the Raiders’ decline, as they have not won a playoff game since appearing in the Super Bowl the following year.

Brady went on to win six Super Bowls with New England and another with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring this offseason after 23 seasons in the NFL and holding a majority of the league’s career passing records.

Brady also is part of Davis’ WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces ownership group, acquiring a stake in March.

At least 24 current NFL team owners have to approve Brady’s partnership, which is the case with all minority and majority owners.

It is believed that Brady’s 10-year, $375 million contract to broadcast NFL games with Fox, which is due to start in 2024, would be unaffected by an investment in the Raiders, as a source previously told ESPN’s Seth Wickersham and Adam Schefter that Fox had “blessed” the arrangement.

Brady reportedly showed interest in a minority ownership stake with the Miami Dolphins in 2021 and 2022, and a six-month NFL investigation determined that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and vice chairman/limited partner Bruce Beal — a friend of Brady’s — violated the league’s anti-tampering policy in conversations with Brady. The Dolphins were stripped of their first-round draft pick in last month’s draft as a result.

Brady, a sixth-round draft choice of New England in 2000, would join a cavalcade of former Patriots in Las Vegas, foremost among them second-year Raiders coach Josh McDaniels, who was Brady’s offensive coordinator in New England from 2006 to 2008 and 2012 to 2019. General manager Dave Ziegler also came to the Raiders from New England, as have quarterbacks Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer, edge rusher Chandler Jones, running back Brandon Bolden, fullback Jakob Johnson and wide receivers Jakobi Meyers and Phillip Dorsett.

Brady, who came out of a 41-day retirement last offseason, is not expected to play again. And even if he did, as an owner, a dual role with the Raiders would have to be approved by NFL owners.

Davis had no comment when asked about such a scenario.

The Raiders were interested in signing Brady as a free agent when the team relocated from Oakland to Las Vegas in 2020, a move scuttled by then-coach Jon Gruden.

“Those decisions were made and that’s, you know, how life goes,” Davis said at the NFL’s annual league meeting in March.

The Raiders signed Garoppolo, Brady’s backup in New England from 2014 to 2016, in free agency to be the team’s quarterback after moving on from nine-year starter Derek Carr.