Back in May, it was reported that retired quarterback Tom Brady had agreed to purchase a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders. Brady has done business with Raiders owner Mark Davis before, so the move made sense, and Brady apparently was not looking to be some ceremonial, silent owner.
However, that potential ownership stake came into question a couple of months later as the NFL approved a new no-equity rule that potentially could’ve ruined Brady’s plans. To this day, Brady’s purchase of a minority stake in the Raiders has yet to be finalized, and the reason for that seems to be coming out now.
The Washington Post released a report that Brady’s ownership stake in the Raiders is being held up at least in part due to the discount price he was given, via Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports:
Mark Maske and Nicki Jhabvala of Washington Post reported that Brady’s part-ownership stake in the Las Vegas Raiders is still being held up in part because of the discount he was given. One of the three sources cited by the Post said that “the deal would be unlikely to be ratified at the proposed price.” According to one of the Post’s sources, it’s believed Brady might be getting a discount of as much as approximately 70 percent. The Post said Brady is believed to be buying between five to 10 percent of the Raiders, who were valued to be worth $6.2 billion by Forbes this August.
A discount in the range of 70% would be a massive one. The original plan for Brady with the Raiders was that he would also work as an employee of the team, which could be a reason for the discount, but with that new anti-equity rule, that plan is no longer possible.
The league meetings are set to take place in a couple of weeks, and the Brady ownership deal will be voted on then, but as of right now, it is looking unlikely to be approved, according to Schwab:
The Post reported that NFL owners are not expected to approve the deal to make Brady a part owner at the league meeting Oct. 17-18. It must be approved by 24 of 32 owners.
There is still time for Brady and the Raiders to figure out something that can convince enough owners to approve his ownership stake, and the report did speculate that there are some who want the deal to go through. Perhaps some sort of compromise can be reached, but for now, Brady’s potential ownership of the Raiders is in serious limbo.
