Football legend Tom Brady plans to start his sportscasting duties for Fox in the fall of 2024, the retired athlete revealed during an interview Monday on Fox Sports 1, per Variety.
Brady’s arrival had previously been uncertain, particularly after he announced his retirement at the end of the NFL’s 2022 season, then reneged.
He is expected to call NFL games with Kevin Burkhardt, the Fox Sports announcer whose role was recently elevated after Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left. Greg Olsen called games alongside Burkhardt this season, and it is expected he’ll remain in that role until Brady steps in.
Brady “will not only call our biggest NFL games with Kevin Burkhardt, but will also serve as an ambassador for us, particularly with respect to client and promotional initiatives,” Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch told investors in May of last year.
Brady’s hire was part of a flurry of big talent changes for major football broadcasts last year. Al Michaels left his longtime perch at NBC Sports to lead Amazon’s new Thursday Night Football, and Mike Tirico inherited Michaels’ role at NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Fox, meanwhile, parted ways with Buck and Aikman after ESPN wooed them away to lead Monday Night Football.
The TV networks with NFL rights are looking to woo bigger audiences after agreeing to substantial hikes in the licensing fees they will pay the league. The new 11-year pact keeps the bulk of professional-football telecasts under the purview of the big traditional TV broadcasters.
