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Al Michaels on Tom Brady's $375M Contract: 'I Don’t Know Whether the Number Is Right'
June 20, 2022
Tom Brady signed the richest contract in broadcasting history with Fox before he ever called a game, but you aren't about to catch Al Michaels pocket watching.
The broadcasting legend spoke to Peter King of NBC Sports about Brady's contract, saying the deal was simply a product of the market.
"The Brady deal, I don't know whether the number is right. I don't know whether he's a brand ambassador, whatever that's supposed to mean," Michaels said. "It can't just be for doing games. It has to be other stuff. In a way, this is just the way it's gone.
"I've always felt that the ruination of somebody especially if you're on a team and the guy at the next locker is making $500,000 more than you and you're all pissed off about that. Why? We're all doing pretty well. Enjoy it. Especially at this point of my life, I mean, great. More power to anybody who can get whatever they get. That's what the market will bear."
Michaels signed a deal with Amazon in March for what was termed "Joe Buck money" by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. Buck signed a five-year, $75 million contract with ESPN to handle Monday Night Football duties starting next season.
Michaels will be joined in the Thursday Night Football booth by Kirk Herbstreit, who will continue calling college football games for ESPN.
This offseason proved to be a massive windfall for high-profile NFL broadcasters, with several contracts expiring and nearly every network looking to reshuffle its booth.
Brady's agreement with Fox came at the tail end of that bidding bonanza, with Fox locking up the future Hall of Famer's next decade beyond his playing career. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback retired in February but decided to come back for the 2022 season a month later.