How Tom Brady Won the Upfronts for Fox

MANHATTAN — 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 on 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 on Monday, he’s a rain-maker 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 on stage 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.