Did NFL backdown on Brady rules?
Football at Fenway. Belichick owns UNC
Good morning, all! I hope your Thursday is off to a great start!
The NFL is relaxing a restriction placed on FOX broadcaster and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Tom Brady. The former Patriots and Bucs quarterback will be permitted to attend pregame production meetings with coaches by remote. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic was the first to report the story. Except for last season’s Super Bowl, Brady was barred from production meetings because he is part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.
He was also prevented from attending team practices. That restriction remains.
The question is did the NFL have a choice? Not really. Brady is a big name, who just happens to have a stake in an NFL team. But there is no way he could continue do his job as a broadcaster, if he was prevented from interacting with the team and garnering information for his audience.
I believe the NFL was hoping the rumors were true, that broadcasting would wear thin on Brady after one season. Brady, however, seems to have taken to it, as the color commentator on Fox’s number one team with Kevin Burkhardt. The NFL had to do something and it was not about to lose Brady.
Here are some other thoughts as I ponder “The Game” at Fenway:
Yes, you are reading that correctly. It was announced Wednesday that Fenway Park will be the site of “The Game” between Harvard and Yale on Nov. 21, 2026. And you thought “The Game” at Fenway was Red Sox-Yankees.
The Mets are in the Phillies heads
Ben Volin has an excellent piece about North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick in the Boston Globe. Bars around the campus are expecting to double business on game day. Also telling is the comment even though the school is renowned for basketball, in order to remain on the landscape, school administrators believed they had to undertake a massive upgrade of the football program.
Belichick’s first game as UNC coach is Monday night against TCU on national TV.
Piece is at hand between FOX and YouTube TV and that’s good news for college football fans this weekend.
Love listening to Jon Miller and Dave Fleming broadcasting Giants baseball on the way home from a Yard Goats game. Just sayin.’ Miller has lost nothing off his fastball, by the way.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for subscribing and have a great Thursday.
DAN