Tom Brady said he's retiring from the National Football League — and this time, he won't be making a surprise comeback.
"I'll get to the point right away. I'm retiring — for good," Brady said in a video posted online on Wednesday.
Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, announced his retirement after the 2021 season, too, only to say he was returning to the league a few weeks later. This year, the quarterback led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to an 8-9 record and into the playoffs, losing to the Dallas Cowboys in the wild card round.
Brady has earned more than $332 million from 23 seasons in the NFL, according to financial database Spotrac. He has endorsement deals with Under Armour Inc. and Hertz Global Holdings Inc., among other big brands.
Last time he announced his retirement, Brady said he'd focus on his own companies, including sports NFT site Autograph.io, Brady brand and TB12 Sports.
In May, Fox Corp. Chief Executive Officer Lachlan Murdoch announced that Brady would join Fox Sports as an analyst once his playing career is over. The New York Post has reported the deal is valued at $375 million over 10 years, which would make it the largest contract in sportscasting history.
Startup Investing
Athletes are increasingly becoming major investors in startups, while the path from quarterback to deal-maker has been well-trodden.
Steve Young won three Super Bowl rings as quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and made it to the National Football League Hall of Fame. After leaving the NFL, he has helped raise around $7 billion as co-founder of HGGC LLC, a Palo Alto, California, private equity firm.
Joe Montana, another former Hall of Fame quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, co-founded venture fund Liquid 2 Ventures in 2015, and invested in GitLab Inc. at a $12 million valuation. The software development platform listed in 2021 at a $11 billion valuation.
Former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning joined private equity firm Brand Velocity Group, which specializes in consumer products, as a partner after retirement to work on business development and deals.
