How Tom Brady Won the Upfronts for Fox

NEW YORK — Sunday marked the fourth anniversary of the most lucrative contract in sports TV history: Tom Brady’s 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox Sports.

Even if Brady was the second coming of John Madden in the broadcast booth, many asked why Fox would pay him double the dollars of Tony Romo of CBS Sports—the next highest-paid analyst—at $18 million a year?

The answer came again Monday, when Fox Corp. staged its annual upfront presentation for ad buyers here at the New York City Center in Midtown Manhattan.

The upfronts are when legacy media companies and streamers try to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory to blue-chip advertisers for the upcoming year. If a media company has a successful upfront, it’s mostly set ad-wise. Fall on your face and, unfortunately, it’s wait till next year.

Brady’s not just Fox’s No. 1 NFL game analyst; he’s a money-making ambassador for the $16 billion corporation. As the NFL’s greatest winner, the seven-time Super Bowl champion is a bright, shiny lure to help Fox extend its 30-year relationship with the league for another decade. As Brady ably showed Monday, he’s a rainmaker when it comes to Fox’s annual dance for cash with Madison Avenue.

Brady basically opened and closed the show for Fox, introducing Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch. He was funny, relaxed, and personable. Gone was the nervous, robotic analyst from his rocky first season in the booth in 2024. Entering his third season on-air at Fox with play-by-play partner Kevin Burkhardt, with a Super Bowl telecast already under his belt, Tom Terrific was at his best Monday.

Brady was as charismatic as Michael Strahan, had more star power than Hollywood’s Jon Hamm and Patrick Dempsey, and was funnier than anybody except for James Corden, who will host a late-night World Cup show for Fox. 

Brady drew one of the biggest laughs of the event while onstage with sidekick Rob Gronkowski and Erin Andrews. The trio discussed Fox scoring a primetime Christmas Night game this season. When Gronkowski declared, “Ho, ho, ho, the NFL is back for Christmas on Fox,” Brady ribbed his old teammate about his wild college days at the University of Arizona, where he staged hot tub parties every Saturday night. “Feels like he’s back at Arizona,” cracked Brady. Gronk and Andrews laughed. And the crowd loved it.

When Fox announced Brady’s hire in 2022, it said the former Patriots superstar would also serve as a “corporate ambassador,” working on client and promotional initiatives. That wasn’t just some corporate PR-speak. Brady is earning his monster paycheck by generating ad revenue.

On Monday, Brady proved he’s worth the money Fox is paying him. To paraphrase Cuba Gooding Jr.’s Rod Tidwell character in Jerry Maguire, Tom Brady has become Fox’s “Ambassador of Quan.” 

Other impressions from the upfronts:

• NBC saved its sports juice for the end of its presentation at Radio City Music Hall on Monday. As previously predicted by Front Office Sports, it rolled out the newly hired Mike Tomlin before the assembled media buyers at Radio City Hall. The former Steelers coach talked about his new role as an analyst on Football Night in America with Mike Tirico and Bob Costas. His hire had already been announced, so Tomlin’s appearance didn’t draw the kind of audience gasps that Michael Jordan’s surprise reveal as a “special contributor” did last year. Still, Tomlin was the top NFL TV free agent on the board. NBC has high hopes for the Super Bowl–winning coach as the next great football analyst. “Talking football is a natural act for me, and I’m excited for this new challenge,” said Tomlin. 
• Reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford made a surprise appearance at Amazon Prime Video’s upfront Monday night at the historic Beacon Theatre. For a moment, I thought Stafford was there to announce he was retiring from the NFL to join former Rams teammate Andrew Whitworth on Prime’s studio show. But no, Stafford was just there to support his old teammate. Instead, the big news was Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan announcing he’s executive-producing a new series about Muhammad Ali called The Greatest.
• The Walt Disney Co. and ESPN will stage their upfront here Tuesday afternoon. Look for the Mouse House to go all in promoting ESPN’s first Super Bowl telecast on Feb. 14, 2027. It’s expected to be a massive event at New York’s Javits Center, drawing more than 3,700 attendees. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery, including TNT Sports and Bleacher Report, will hold its upfront Wednesday morning at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.