Ex-ESPN President Criticizes FOX About Tom Brady’s Monster Contract

Tom Brady’s megadeal with FOX has raised plenty of eyebrows within the sports media world.

Legendary play-by-play voice Al Michaels was a bit skeptical about the reported 10-year, $375 million contract, suggesting there’s more to the Brady-FOX pact than what the network has shared. Others, like Michelle Beadle, have been critical of FOX for making such a lucrative investment in a person, albeit ultra-famous and experienced in the sport, who has zero broadcasting experience.

John Skipper, a former ESPN president who now works for Meadowlark Media, also is among those who believed FOX put too many eggs in Brady’s basket. Skipper explained his line of thinking last week on “The Dan Le Batard with Stugotz” program.

“There’s very little economic value. He’s a very, very expensive trophy,” Skipper said, as transcribed by Audacy. “I think he’ll probably be OK on the game. It doesn’t really matter that much other than for pride and I guess he’ll shake advertisers’ hands.”

Skipper added: “I don’t think that’s necessary or a good use of $37.5 million. At about $100,000 a pop, we could hire 370 employees for that. For $375 million, you could have bought some live event rights, which would actually make a significant difference.”

Another fascinating element to Brady’s FOX employment is it won’t begin until his playing career is over. While the seven-time Super Bowl champion long has suggested his age-45 season would be his last, can we really count out the possibility of Brady playing beyond that benchmark?