Fair Competition: Tom Brady and Troy Aikman are the latest proof NFL doesn’t care
It’s not that the NFL is rigged. It isn’t. It’s that the game is controlled by a self checking machine that manufactures its own truth.
When the league allowed Tom Brady to purchase a portion of the Raiders at a discounted rate, it wasn’t some grand favor to the Raiders. It was a calculated investment. The league wagered that having the most successful player in NFL History as a minority owner of one of the 32 teams was good for publicity, and in turn, good for business.
The league was right. Per Yahoo Sports, since Brady and his business partner, Tom Wagner, purchased 10% of the Raiders, the team’s value has increased by $1.1 Billion, with nearly $500 Million of that credited to Brady and Wagner.
When the value of any franchise increases, so does the value of the entire league. Financially, Brady’s partnership with the NFL has already paid off. Here’s where he’s an inevitable problem - Brady also works for Fox as an NFL Analyst. Brady’s dual role comes with a benefit to the Raiders and a conflict of interest with Fox. Tom Brady will call 18 games for Fox in 2026. Of his currently known/predicted slate, he’ll have access to at least 12 different teams, not including the one in Las Vegas he has an ownership tie to.
While nobody’s expecting the Raiders to make it very far in 2026, there’s nothing to stop Brady from gaining information that can benefit the club in future seasons. As an analyst at Fox, Brady will travel and meet with every team he covers this season.
Save me the “Yeah, but Brady has rules” nonsense. The Brady Rules prohibit him from in-person production meetings at team facilities. They don’t prevent him from interviewing coaches and players or asking any questions he wants (remotely). And while I’m not accusing any coaches or players of deliberately giving any information away, you never know what single puzzle piece someone might drop, that when put together with a few other pieces, reveal enough to get a clear picture.
If you still don’t think this is that big of a deal, think about it this way; Would you want the players of your favorite team sitting down with the owner of another team ahead of a game? As a Seahawks fan, it would feel very weird for Jaxon Smith-Njigba to have a closed door meeting with Jerry Jones during the season.
Still don’t see the big deal? That’s cool. I was saving my strongest point for last.
This offseason, Troy Aikman (ESPN’s Monday Night Football Analyst) served as a consultant to the Miami Dolphins during their General Manager and Head Coaching searches this offseason. The Dolphins have since indefinitely retained Aikman to a position where he’s expected to continue consulting for the team. The Dolphins haven’t assigned an official title to the position, nor did they respond to my request for comment. But I do have a title for their Troy Aikman position.
Spy.
In Aikman’s own words on the DLLS podcast, “I think the Dolphins were wise in understanding my relationships around the league, and knowing that I have information that they don’t have or can’t get. And I think they were smart in taking advantage of that.”
Aikman even went on to perfectly describe having a conflict of interest, while denying having a conflict of interest. “No, I don’t feel there’s a conflict.” Aikman started before adding “But I will say I’m pulling for the Dolphins . . . because now I have something at stake.”
The league has yet to announce what limitations they’ll put on Aikman when he meets with teams for Monday Night Football production meetings this season. Even if the league gives Aikman The Brady Rules, there’s nothing to stop him or Brady from gaining information from colleagues at their respective networks who aren’t subject to any league rules. The NFL gave me the run around before not responding to questions I submitted on this topic.
A spokesperson for ESPN was more receptive to questions, telling me on background that Aikman’s responsibilities and schedule with the network haven’t changed. ESPN pointed to other outlets reporting that Troy’s scope of work with the Dolphins is much more limited than that of Tom Brady and the Raiders.
Details of Aikman’s new role with the Dolphins haven’t been publicly disclosed yet, so I took ESPN’s comments to me as pointing to the distinction that Tom Brady is a minority owner of the Raiders while Troy Aikman has an undefined role with the Dolphins.
ESPN went on to point out that there currently aren’t any Dolphins games on the 2026 Monday Night Football schedule.
While true, there remains the possibility of games being flexed into the Monday Night schedule. That only happens if the Dolphins are involved in relevant games, which would surely move Aikman’s new role directly under the microscope of fans and media. Even if the league chooses to avoid that problem by flexing those hypothetical matchups into NBC’s Sunday Night Football, Aikman is currently set to call three games in the same division as his new team. Two Bills games and a Patriots game.
In comparison, of the games Tom Brady is expected to cover, he only has one game involving a Division Rival - a Week 14 Chiefs at Bengals matchup. In fairness, Fox has more games than ESPN, so Brady’s slate will remain a lot more fluid than Aikman’s.
To be clear, the conflict of interest isn’t the issue of the networks. ESPN and Fox Sports are under no obligation to stop their talent from working for or owning NFL clubs they cover. It’s actually to the Network’s advantage. They obtain an on-staff inside source for no additional cost.
Brady and Aikman aren’t to blame either. Their conflicts are known and disclosed. The issue belongs to the league. They’re the ones sanctioning megastar analysts having conflicts that can benefit individual clubs.
The league surely knows of these issues. I have hundreds of thousands of views on my YouTube videos discussing this very topic. Mike Florio has extensively covered the issue on ProFootballTalk and its accompanying podcast/show (PFT Live). Not to mention, if there wasn’t an issue, the league wouldn’t have bothered creating The Brady Rules in the first place.
The refusal to appropriately address the clear conflict of interest that Tom Brady and Troy Aikman have, speaks to bigger issues within the NFL.
Does the league actually care about fair competition? If they do, it doesn’t make sense to allow teams to sell to or hire specific employees of the networks that cover the NFL so extensively.
And if I may be so presumptuous, why doesn’t the league care about fair competition? Money is the obvious answer. Brady having a partial ownership stake in the Raiders is good for valuations. Aikman having a rooting interest in a team is free promotion.
Sooner or later the league is going to have to address the conflict of interest in a more serious way.
The Raiders and Dolphins can’t suck forever (Right?) They’ll eventually be good, or at least good enough to put together some wins that get people thinking about them. Thinking leads to questions;
When did the Raiders get good?
Where did the Dolphins find this guy?
How’d they even know about him?
Questions lead to answers;
Oh, since Brady got there.
Oh, he was on the Rams last year.
Oh, the Rams were on Monday Night Football twice last year.
And there lies the advantage that Brady and Aikman’s roles with Fox and ESPN provide to the Raiders and Dolphins. An effective solution from the NFL is yet to be seen.
Written by Seattle Mike.
References: