Tom Brady announcing timeline: A look back at a complicated year with Fox

charles curtis

Thu, 6 Feb 2025, 7:00 am·5-min read

Dec 29, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; FOX broadcaster and former NFL quarterback Tom Brady looks on before the game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images ORG XMIT: IMAGN-881120 ORIG FILE ID: 20241229_cec_bc9_037.JPG

It was just two years ago that Kevin Burkhardt was preparing to call his first Super Bowl for Fox Sports, and as he told USA TODAY Sports in 2023, the magnitude of what he was about to do hit him when he learned he’d be calling the 57th edition of the NFL’s championship game.

“The day after I was told, I went online and looked up how many play-by-play guys had called the Super Bowl,” Burkhardt said. “It was not lost on me that the number is 11. It’s a job that not many people in the world have had the luck or the fortune to do. I don’t take it lightly.”

Then, he added, “It’s history, is what it is.”

After becoming announcer No. 11, Burkhardt continued his terrific run on the mic. But the play-by-play announcer has a different challenge this time around as Fox is set to broadcast Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans: he’s got a different partner next to him.

He called that first Super Bowl with Greg Olsen, whom he had known for 20 years before they were paired together in the Fox lead booth.

Now, Tom Brady is his partner on the air for the big game.

He and Burkhardt called a season’s worth of games together, developing the kind of chemistry that NFL viewers enjoy from a broadcast booth. And to Brady’s credit, we’ve seen a vast improvement since a Week 1 filled with awkward pauses and stumbles. He seems much more relaxed on the air.

But there’s an additional challenge Brady faces, in addition to being a rookie calling his first Super Bowl as a broadcaster: As a minority owner in the Las Vegas Raiders, he has a list of restrictions on what he’s allowed to say on the air and what he has to avoid in order not to break NFL rules (although the league is relaxing some of those for him this week).

With all of that in mind, let’s look back at the year that brought Brady to calling his first Super Bowl after winning seven of them as the legendary quarterback of the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

September 8, 2024: Tom Brady's first regular season game

After signing a reported 10-year and $375 million deal with Fox and agreeing in 2023 to buy a minority stake with the Las Vegas Raiders, Brady kicks off Week 1 of the season while calling the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns matchup. Critics noted his struggles to describe what he was seeing that contributed to some dead air. Clearly, he was nervous.

September 15, 2024: A solid week

Burkhardt and Brady had their best exchange of the year so far. Burkhardt asked Brady if the former quarterback would throw again to Cowboys receiver Jalen Brooks – who had slipped during a play, leading to an interception – if he was Dallas’s quarterback. Brady’s answer:

“Not today. It’s actually pretty tough to go back there. Because you know where he’s at. You’re saying, ‘I’m going to him, I just can’t count on him that he’s going to stay on his feet.’”

Fans love the honesty.

October 2024: He's now an NFL owner

NFL owners officially approve Brady’s minority stake in the Raiders. The reported restrictions on Brady as an announcer include being barred from broadcast production meetings, prohibitions from criticizing officials and other teams. That’s all to make sure there’s no conflict of interest or ability to use insider information.

November 2024: Brady criticizes an official

Brady does criticize an official after Brian Branch was ejected from a Lions-Packers game, but the NFL clarifies that he didn’t call “into question the integrity of an official or the crew,” so there’s no discipline from the league.

January 18, 2025: The Ben Johnson situation

Questions swirl about his conflict of interest as reports say Brady is leading the charge to recruit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as the Raiders’ next coach, given that Brady is calling the Lions-Commanders playoff game. Burkhardt asks Brady about his head coaching search and how he’s evaluated Johnson and Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.

His response:

"It's just been a great learning experience. What you realize is: the league's full of great potential. And what I believe is, the resumes, the accolades, they're all earned by what people do on the field. You earn your opportunities, you do your performance, and let that all do the talking, just as it should be, and as I did when I was a player."

Notice he didn’t mention them by name.

January 22, 2025: He's not going anywhere

Brady joked with Colin Cowherd about all the speculation that he could leave Fox after one year due to his role with the Raiders:

“I’ve had the best time at Fox and I’ve loved every time going into the booth and working with such great people, starting with my partner Kevin. … I got nine years left on my deal. Maybe longer, you never know. If Fox wants me and I want to go, we’ll just keep going, because it’s been really fun thus far.”

We’ll see the fun continue on Super Bowl Sunday.