Tom Brady is finally an NFL owner after getting approved to purchase a stake in the Raiders

It took 17 months, but Tom Brady’s bid to purchase a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders has finally been approved.

The NFL’s 32 owners voted to approve Brady’s purchase on Tuesday at the league’s Fall Meeting in Atlanta. The approval ends a long, complicated process for Brady that started all the way back in May 2023 when Raiders owner Mark Davis originally announced that the NFL legend would be buying a stake in his team. 

“We have come to an agreement for Tom Brady to become a partner in the Raiders and we have submitted it to the NFL for approval,” Davis said on May 22, 2023. 

Although Davis submitted the purchase for approval nearly 17 months ago, the NFL didn’t approve it until now due to a variety of factors. For one, other owners apparently didn’t feel that Brady was being asked to pay market price for his share in the team, according to The Washington Post. If Brady was allowed to pay a lower price, owners were afraid that might dilute the value of their teams. 

It’s not clear what Brady is paying for his share of the Raiders, but it could be more than $300 million. According to Forbes, the Raiders are currently valued at $6.7 billion, and Sports Illustrated has reported that Brady is purchasing 5% of the team, which would put the value of his share at $335 million. Overall, Davis is selling 10.5% of the team: Brady’s business partner Tom Wagner is purchasing 5% on top of Brady’s 5% and former Patriots star Richard Seymour is buying 0.5% of the team. 

Seymour has been unanimously approved as a partial owner of the Raiders, source says, per CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones. 

With the financial situation figured out, another obstacle hit in August when the NFL let Brady know that he would be facing restrictions in the broadcast booth if he ended up becoming an owner. 

Assuming the seven-time Super Bowl winner didn’t reach any sort of agreement with the league, here are some of the restrictions he’ll be facing as a Fox broadcaster:

• Not permitted to be in another team’s facility
• Cannot witness practice
• Cannot attend broadcast production meetings (in person or virtually)

Normally, a network’s broadcasting team is given this access before a game, but Brady won’t have that. Brady will also have to be careful about what he says in the booth, because he’s now subject to the same fine policies as other NFL owners:

• Subject to fines or even suspension if he goes too far in criticizing game officials or other clubs
• Subject to the league’s gambling policy
• Subject to the league’s anti-tampering policies: Permitted only “strictly social communication with members of other clubs.”

Brady obviously knew about these restrictions and policies beforehand, so the fact that he went through with becoming an owner shows that he’s content with the situation. 

Brady’s approval also comes with one other note: His playing career is definitely over. CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones reported in September that Brady will not be allowed to play for any NFL team — including the Raiders — as part of his ownership approval. 

Although he only owns 5% of the team, Brady isn’t expected to be a passive owner. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Brady will “have a much bigger role than people think in the direction of the franchise in all areas on the football side.”

The Raiders made one final big move before Brady was approved as owner, and that came Tuesday morning when they traded Davante Adams to the Jets.

Brady spent 23 years in the NFL with 20 of those in New England followed by three in Tampa Bay. Now, he’s headed to Vegas where he’ll be hoping to have the same kind of success as an owner that he had as a player.