NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says he doesn’t believe there’s an issue with Tom Brady being both a minority owner of the Raiders and the No. 1 analyst on Fox.
Before calling a game on Sunday, Brady gets access to the teams that wouldn’t be given to any other minority owner of a rival team. But Goodell says teams can refuse to share information with Brady if they think that information could be used to the Raiders’ benefit.
“Teams have the right to say whatever they want to. They don’t have to disclose any information if they think it’s a conflict of interest,” Goodell told Alex Sherman of CNBC. “Teams don’t need to say anything. Sometimes they don’t say anything to somebody who’s not [a minority owner]. We get a lot of former players that are in [broadcast meetings] that are close to their former teams. I think our teams are pretty smart about saying, ‘I’m not sharing something with him.’”
Goodell said the league has the proper protocols in place to prevent Brady from getting something that would give the Raiders a competitive advantage.
“Where’s the conflict?” Goodell said. “He’s not hanging around in the facilities. We don’t allow that.”
But the whole reason the NFL had to make rules specifically for Brady is that it’s obviously advantageous to him, and therefore to the Raiders, to gather intelligence about opposing teams. But if the NFL is going to look the other way, then the teams will have to take it upon themselves to limit Brady’s access, knowing he can pass along anything he sees or hears to the Raiders’ coaching staff.
