Advertisement

Super Bowl 2025: NFL adjusting Tom Brady's broadcast restrictions with Chiefs, Eagles for Fox

Due to Brady's ownership stake with the Raiders, the NFL prohibited him from attending practices and production meetings

ian casselberry
Contributing writer
·3-min read

With Fox broadcasting Super Bowl 59 on Sunday, color analyst Tom Brady will be allowed a bit more access to the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles than he had been throughout the season.

When Brady took on a minority ownership stake in the Las Vegas Raiders (reportedly a 10% piece of the team), the NFL put restrictions on the rookie broadcaster's role to ease concerns among league owners that his circumstances created a conflict of interest. The rules included Brady being barred from other teams' facilities, prohibited from other teams' practices and not allowed to participate in production meetings with coaches, players and executives of any team whose game he's calling.

Those rules will be somewhat relaxed leading up to Super Bowl 59, reports The Athletic.

Brady still will not be allowed into the Chiefs' and Eagles' practices, though the other members of the Fox broadcast crew, including play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt and reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi, will have access. Brady can, however, meet with players and coaches from both teams as part of production meetings.

One of the NFL team owners who was most outspoken about Brady's access being restricted was Clark Hunt of the Chiefs. That's understandable, given that Kansas City is an AFC West rival of the Raiders.

Interestingly, Hunt told reporters of the loosened restrictions for Brady during his media availability on Tuesday.

"When [Brady] was approved as an owner of the Raiders, there were a lot of discussions internally [among owners], and that ended up being the recommendation of the league office, that it didn’t make sense to have him in the production meetings," Hunt said, via The Athletic.

"That’s where that rule came from. Since he’s doing the game this week, we have no issue with him being in our production meetings. He’ll have the access that any broadcaster would have."

The Eagles will also play the Raiders next season, though the exact date of their matchup is unknown, with the 2025 NFL schedule yet to be announced. However, the rules in place for Brady appear to be the same for both teams playing in the Super Bowl.

Brady's access will be reevaluated by the NFL ahead of next season, according to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Goodell revealed that Brady checked with the league frequently this season to see if he violated any of the rules.

"Tom has been incredibly cooperative," Goodell said, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "He calls frequently and says, ‘Am I doing OK?’ I think he’s serious about making sure he separates these two and doesn’t put the league or anyone in a position of conflict."

Fox's coverage of Super Bowl 59 will begin at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.