One of the biggest pieces of news to come from the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason was that the recently retired Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time, would be purchasing a minority stake in the team. It was reported that not only would Brady purchase a portion of the team from owner Mark Davis, but he would also have a role within the organization itself.
In other words, Brady would not just be purchasing this minority share just to say he is part-owner but planned on being involved in some form with the Raiders. However, a new NFL rule has made that impossible and could derail Brady’s ownership plans with the Raiders altogether.
This new no-equity rule prevents team employees who aren’t family members from being distributed equity in a franchise and according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, could force Brady and the Raiders to go back to the beginning and figure out a completely new deal:
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the new no-equity rule complicates Tom Brady’s effort to acquire a portion of the Raiders.
During last week’s special meeting to approve the sale of the Commanders from Daniel Snyder to Josh Harris, Raiders owner Mark Davis spoke passionately against the proposed rule, explaining that he had planned to employ Brady as part of the deal for Brady to buy a piece of the team. (The rule passed over Davis’s concerns.)
Now that Davis won’t be able to both employee Brady and to sell Brady equity in the team, that could set the transaction back to square one — and it could potentially derail it altogether.
It’s an unfortunate development for Brady and the Raiders who believed they had everything in place and would move forward with their plans. Part of the agreement was that Brady would be employed by the team, but with that no longer being an option, an entirely new agreement will have to be made.
Brady called being an NFL owner ‘a dream come true’ and while the role he planned on having with the franchise was a ‘very passive’ one, it was something he made clear that he wanted to do for a very long time. Brady and Davis are good friends, and Brady has also purchased a stake in the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA, another team owned by Mark Davis.
The two clearly want to do business together, but in terms of an ownership stake with the Raiders, they are going to have to find a new way to make it happen.
