Commentary: The TB12 Method

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With a week full of big news in the National Football League, this might be the biggest:

Tom Brady is becoming a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.

As a fan, it looks like great news – and believe me I think it is – but it also smacks of some bylaws being bent or broken.

Number one, it’s quite rare for any former player to be welcomed into a league’s ownership fraternity. Mario Lemieux comes to mind in Pittsburgh, but he only got ownership in the Penguins when the team couldn’t pay him.

Can you think of many others?

So Tom Brady becoming an owner in Las Vegas is a novelty.

But then add to the fact that he’s the lead analyst on the NFL On Fox and things start to get really murky.

Sure, you’re thinking “How much influence can a broadcaster really have?”

And I’d agree with you.

But others don’t. If I had a nickel for every time I got hauled into the office as a team broadcaster and being blamed for losses, well, I’d have enough for at least a cup of coffee.

Finally I’d had enough of these meetings and shot back, “When I get credit for wins, I’ll start taking blame for losses.”

That ended that.

A pundit said this week that as long as Tom Brady isn’t calling any shots in Vegas, this ownership structure won’t be an issue.

But unless the Raiders are idiots – and judging by their history, you have to wonder – they’d better be asking Tom Brady who should be starting at quarterback, or coaching, or who to draft.

And even then how do you prove those conversations are, or aren’t, going on?

So how much thinking has really gone into allowing Tom Brady a piece of the action in Vegas?

I’ve been around long enough to know that owners and presidents don’t realize the conversations that go on at the front of the bus, the plane, or over a coffee in an all-night diner or hotel lobby.

Perhaps the summation is simply this:

Having Tom Brady involved in as many capacities in the NFL as possible can only be a great thing.

That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary.

(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm & 4 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast & YouTube Live)