Everyone has an opinion on FOX signing Tom Brady to join its top NFL broadcast booth when his playing days are over. Many of those opinions are about what Brady can and will do for the quality of the broadcast. Boomer Esiason says that isn’t what the network is worried about.
On Monday’s edition of Boomer & Gio, the CBS NFL analyst made the argument that FOX accomplished its goal for the move long before Brady will ever step into the broadcast booth. What FOX wanted was proof that it would be okay after Troy Aikman and Joe Buck left America’s Game of the Week for ESPN.
“All these guys have got to go on earnings calls to Wall Street investors,” Esiason said. “So right after they lose Aikman and Buck and right before the earnings call, Lachlan Murdoch basically signed Tom Brady to this ridiculous deal. So when he got on the earnings call a couple of days later he could say ‘we’re not losers. We’re not weak. We’re as big as we always are. As a matter of fact, we’re bigger now because we have the greatest player in NFL history signing a contract to come and join us when he’s done. That’s how big we are.’”
He used an example closer to home to illustrate his point. Esiason’s CBS colleague Tony Romo set a new market for top NFL broadcasters when he got a new contract that paid him $17 million annually. Esiason said that was the result of ESPN showing interest in Romo right around the time CBS was getting ready for its own earnings call in 2020.
“When you keep your stars in-house, it’s a good sign that you’re a strong company and you are building. It makes waves within the Wall Street community, which is very, very important.”
Meadowlark Media boss John Skipper is among the many that have made the point that FOX is giving a lot of money to someone that has not proven to be very interesting on television. Boomer Esiason said that is the wrong measure of whether or not it was a smart move. The right measure is in the financial implications.
“Fox Corp’s stock price sat at $32.42 per share on Tuesday, May 10th, the day news of the Brady contract was announced. When the markets closed for the week on Friday, May 13th, the stock had risen to $33.80 per share.”
