Fox lead NFL analyst Greg Olsen has millions of reasons to thank recently-retired quarterback Tom Brady this winter.
New York Post sports media columnist Andrew Marchand reported Monday that Olsen’s Fox salary would’ve dropped from $10 million to $3 million had he lost his gig as the network’s No. 1 analyst to Brady later this year. Brady confirmed last week he’s taking a “gap year” before beginning his broadcasting career, and that decision ultimately was worth $7 million to Olsen.
Brady’s future with Fox became an interesting subject months before he announced his “for good” playing retirement on Feb. 1. ESPN’s Joe Buck made it known during the fall some at Fox believe the future Hall of Famer will never call an NFL game for the company, and Sean Payton hinted in December the 45-year-old wouldn’t immediately enter broadcasting booths this year.
For what it’s worth, the seven-time Super Bowl champion sounded committed to eventually joining Fox when he spoke about the subject during an edition of his “Let’s Go!” SiriusXM show and podcast which aired shortly before he shared the news of his retirement.
Brady and Fox agreed to a 10-year deal reportedly worth $375 million in 2022, but that was before Olsen became arguably the most popular lead NFL analyst on network television. Olsen and play-by-play broadcaster Kevin Burkhardt called Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, and the duo received high praise from Marchand, Ken Fang of Awful Announcing, and many others.
In Monday’s piece, Marchand repeated a previous report and noted Olsen has an opt-out in his contract that allows him to pursue a lead NFL game analyst position with a different company if he loses his chair to Brady. Fox has the television rights for Super Bowl LIX in February 2025, and it remains to be seen if Olsen, Brady or maybe both will handle analyst duties for that championship game.
