The 2024 season will mark the beginning of Tom Brady‘s broadcasting career. The seven-time Super Bowl winner will operate as FOX’s lead color commentator, a role which has led to questions stemming from his pending purchase of a minority stake in the Raiders. 
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Brady worked out an agreement to join Mark Davis as one of the Raiders’ owners last May, but that deal has yet to be approved by the NFL. The purchase price is not believed to be point of contention anymore; rather, the issue of a potential conflict of interest remains as a sticking point amongst a number of the league’s other owners. Steps have been taken to allow Brady to operate as a broadcaster but with unique restrictions attached.
The 47-year-old will not be allowed to enter the facilities of teams other than the Raiders, nor will he take part in production meetings leading up to the games he calls, the NFL announced this week (h/t ESPN’s Seth Wickersham). Those meetings are commonplace during the days leading up to broadcasts and involve in-person conversations with players and coaches from both teams. Preventing Brady from being a part of that process should keep him from being able to use his position to provide a competitive advantage to the Raiders.
The future Hall of Famer – who inked a 10-year, $375MM deal with FOX and took a year off after his playing career ended to prepare for the transition to broadcasting – will also be subject to the league’s gambling and tampering policies even though he is not yet officially an owner. The criteria affecting Brady will take effect immediately, Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press confirms. Brady will be allowed to call Raiders games, and while on the air for those contests (and all others) he will be bound by the league rules which prohibit public criticism of officials and other teams.
No other member of the FOX staff will be subject to the rules Brady will need to abide by. Precedent for such restrictions exists based on Greg Olsen‘s initial time spent with the network as a broadcaster. Olsen’s earliest work as a color commentator came while he was still a player with the Panthers. Upon retirement, he took on full-time broadcasting work, becoming FOX’s lead analyst until this season, when Brady will replace him as Kevin Burkhart’s partner.
No firm timeline exists for when Brady’s ownership deal will be approved; that process still sits with the NFL’s finance committee. Once the agreement is put to a vote for all owners, at least 24 of 32 will need to give it the green light for him to formally join the ownership ranks. The league’s decision to implement restrictions on his broadcasting tenure could be a sign that approval will come about sometime in 2024, though.