Tom Brady, Christmas & Fox Sports

When Tom Brady retired, the NFL moved on. When Tom Brady unretires, the NFL is thrown into a frenzy.

Scheduling NFL games isn’t easy. It is a dubious task. When you have a player that draws attendance and TV views like Tom Brady, and he retires, you have to fill the void somehow. Teams made some moves at quarterback that place a spotlight on a couple of organizations that do help alleviate the pressure of drafting this season’s schedule, but Brady’s return lands that schedule right in the trash bin.

“When Tom Brady retired, we were concerned about the strength of the NFC package because there were so many terrific Tampa Bay games we were looking at, then a month later he unretired, and we sort of started all over again.” – Howard Katz, NFL broadcasting chief, via The L.A. Times

A prime example of this re-scheduling is the Bucs’ home game in Munich. Originally slated to be the Kansas City Chiefs prior to Brady’s return, the Networks pushed for a different game: Christmas day. So the networks, the NFL, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are vying for schedule makers to make the team one of the three Christmas Day games versus the Kansas City Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium. The game is being pushed to be played on Christmas but is not set in stone just yet and it could be at the Arizona Cardinals instead.

When you have the greatest player of all-time retire and then unretire for his “last ride” you will want him on as many primetime spots you can get. Tom Brady nor the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have played on Christmas Day, so what a treat that would be for both the team and the GOAT.

As for when Brady does decide to finally hang it up, he will join Fox Sports as lead analyst and he will call games in the booth, keeping him close to the game he’s loved for over two decades.

Excited, but a lot of unfinished business on the field with the @Buccaneers #LFG https://t.co/FwKlQp02Hi

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) May 10, 2022

“Brady will not only call our biggest NFL games with Kevin Burkhardt but will also serve as an ambassador for us, particularly with respect to client and promotional initiatives,” said Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch via Yahoo Sports.

So it looks like when Tom Brady finally hangs it up for good, he will not be far from the NFL at all.