Tom Brady, former NFL quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl champion, officially made his broadcast debut as the lead color commentator for the NFL on FOX broadcast property last Sunday. Working alongside play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt and sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi, the broadcast team called the Dallas Cowboys’ 33-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns. Brady will be on the call for the Cowboys home opener this Sunday as the team faces the New Orleans Saints and will work to improve on his debut performance, which received mixed reviews from those within the sports media industry.
Over the last several weeks, Brady has been working with Shadow Lion, a creative and production company he co-founded, to create weekly videos documenting his life posted to YouTube. Shadow Lion has directed Brady’s social media channels since 2014 and also works with him and his partners “to consistently create authentic, culture-shifting content that owns the moment.” On the most recent episode of Last Week with Tom, the FOX Sports analyst reflected on the preparation and subsequent performance in his broadcast debut.
“The preparation is, I’d say, intense,” Brady explained. “It’s just the physical preparation’s not, and it just feels so f*****g different. I’m so tired of running around in helmets and shoulder pads.”
A majority of the episode involved Brady re-watching memorable plays from his career alongside former wide receiver Julian Edelman, with whom he won three Super Bowl championships. Edelman currently works as a studio analyst with FOX Sports, making weekly appearances on FOX NFL Kickoff. Once that segment of the show was complete, Brady is seen boarding an airplane after the Week 1 contest where he discussed his sentiments after providing broadcast commentary for a regular-season NFL game live in the booth for the first time.
“I’m not tired from the game,” Brady said. “Just tired from the build-up. A lot of emotional build-up and not quite knowing how things are going to go and certainly a lot of fun. Definitely things to clean up, so it’s all a learning process man.”
The regular-season premiere of America’s Game of the Week averaged 23.9 million viewers, representative of a 47% year-over-year increase, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. Moreover, the game peaked with a projected 25.7 million viewers and ranks as the most-watched FOX telecast of any kind since the NFC Championship Game in January. Brady is in the first season of a deal reportedly for 10 years and $375 million and will call Super Bowl LIX.
Someone behind the camera on Last Week with Tom then asked if the experience leaves him excited to get to next Sunday, when he will be on the air again for Cowboys-Saints at 1 p.m. EST on FOX.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Brady said. “It felt like I was doing what I should be doing, and I just know it’s going to get better. We’ll see you next week in Dallas.”
