Roger Goodell downplays Tom Brady conflicts of interest

“Where’s the conflict?”

That’s how NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell responded to CNBC Media & Sports Reporter Alex Sherman when he asked about potential conflicts of interest surrounding Tom Brady’s dual roles as a national broadcaster for Fox and a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. 

During their conversation, which happened last weekend at Levi’s Stadium, Goodell also said teams “have the right to say whatever they want to” and that they “don’t have to disclose any information” in broadcast meetings if they feel there is a conflict of interest. 

Overall, Sherman described Goodell as “animated” in his belief that the situation is a non-issue. 

Some in the sports media world hold a similar view. 

When asked about the same topic at Front Office Sports’ “Tuned In” Summit on Sep. 11, fellow Fox broadcaster Greg Olsen—who Brady actually replaced on the network’s No. 1 team—said, “I’m not a hater…more power to him.” Olsen added that he would “love to be an owner of an NFL team” and noted that how each team handles its broadcasting access “is up to them.”

However, others haven’t been so demure. During the September 17 broadcast of First Take, Stephen A. Smith encouraged teams not to give [Brady] “any damn information,” especially if they “have to play the Raiders down the road.”

For his part, Tom Brady came to his own defense on Wednesday in his weekly newsletter. 

“I love football. At its core it is a game of principles. And with all the success it has given me, I feel I have a moral and ethical duty to the sport, which is why the point where my roles in it intersect is not actually a point of conflict, despite what the paranoid and distrustful might believe,” he wrote. “Rather, it’s the place from which my ethical duty emerges: to grow, evolve, and improve the game that has given me everything.” 

While conversations about Brady’s potential conflicts of interest have been swirling since it was announced that he was taking a 10% stake in the Las Vegas Raiders (alongside his business partner, Tom Wagner) last year, the discourse has reached a new fever pitch after he was seen wearing a headset in the Raiders’ coaches booth on the September 15 broadcast of Monday Night Football.

Given Brady’s starpower—and the fact that the NFL continues to loosen its restrictions around his access as a broadcaster—it’s unlikely that the conflict of interest narrative will ever fully dissipate. And it’s all working to make the 7-time Super Bowl winner far more polarizing off the field than he ever was on it. But at least according to Roger Goodell, it’s nothing to worry about. And that may serve as the final say on the matter.