NFL commissioner Roger Goodell admitted that Tom Brady has yet to be approved as a minority owner for the Las Vegas Raiders, but Goodell added that he's not overly concerned.
"I wouldn't say it's a delay," Goodell said Tuesday from the league's annual meetings at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes, via ESPN. "We go through a very thorough process ... We're just going through our process. We've been in touch with their side. I think it's been making progress."
The Raiders and Brady agreed to the legendary quarterback joining the team as a minority owner in May 2023. League approval of such a move requires at least 24 of the 32 owners.
"We're excited for Tom to join the Raiders," owner Mark Davis told ESPN. "And it's exciting because he will be just the third player in the history of the National Football League to become an owner."
The owners did not vote at the most recent meetings. They are scheduled to meet again in May.
Brady won six championships with the New England Patriots and another with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring ahead of last season. He spent 23 years in the NFL and holds the vast majority of the league's career passing records.
Brady is also lined up to become an analyst for Fox broadcasts of NFL games. Apparently, his upcoming Raiders connection is a-OK with Fox.
"It is believed that Brady's 10-year, $375 million contract to broadcast NFL games with Fox, which is due to start in 2024, would be unaffected by an investment in the Raiders, as a source previously told ESPN's Seth Wickersham and Adam Schefter that Fox had 'blessed' the arrangement," ESPN wrote.
At any rate, Brady's minority ownership in the Raiders is apparently a formality waiting for the I's to be dotted and the T's to be crossed. Unfortunately for the Raiders, though, it does not appear that he'll be playing QB.
