In Week 2 of the 2025 regular season, over 800 points were scored. However, as the concluding game of the week, a prime-time divisional clash featuring the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders, came to a close, the spotlight remained on Tom Brady. The former star of the New England Patriots was seen sitting in the Raiders’ coaches’ box on Monday night, stirring up accusations of impropriety among fans.
Normally, a former player who is a part-owner of a team sitting in their team’s coaching booth wouldn’t raise eyebrows, but to be fair, few of them also serve as broadcasters who have access to exclusive information. Pete Carroll has confirmed that Brady frequently collaborates with the Raiders’ offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly, and he is also permitted to interview players and coaches from opposing teams for his broadcasting roles.
Skip Bayless talks about Tom Brady toying NFL around
That certainly presents a significant conflict of interest. Many, including Skip Bayless, are expressing concern about this situation.
He said: “it’s such a bad look” for the NFL and “everybody that is involved.” “He’s bullying this league. He took a deal to work for Fox, 10-years for $375 million,”
“Then, he turned right around on top of that, and he bought five percent of the now Las Vegas Raiders… I fell out of my chair last night when I saw him sitting in the coaches box with a head set on… He is blatantly ‘f-you’ing’ the entire league and my former network,”
“His duties as a Fox broadcaster allow him, without any connection with the Raiders, to obviously interview all of you the day before he would commentate on your game,”
“In that session… the players and coaches are going to confide in you… They are going to open up to you… Now, if I’m the Bears, I am shutting up, man. I am closing down… He should just drop the Fox deal. He wants to be an owner and operator of the franchise? Go do that,”
Sadly, conflicting interests seem to have become standard in professional sports lately, particularly in relation to the National Football League. Perhaps the most troubling example is the NFL’s recent acquisition of a 10% stake in ESPN, allowing it to benefit from gambling on NFL games through the ESPN Bet platform.
