Because of his contract, restructured in ~2013, Brady’s cap hit over the next 3 years is about $7mm per year less than the peer group, all of whom he is better than except for Aaron Rodgers
Therefore, the Patriots are playing with a salary cap that is effectively about $7mm higher than the rest of the league. That extra $7mm in effective cap space confers a huge advantage to the Patriots. In a league where every team is thin, $7mm well spent is worth two good players that the team couldn’t otherwise afford, or one extra great player. In games that often come down to one play (like last year’s Super Bowl), this is a huge advantage. And where your team is already better than the other teams due to the coach and the QB, throw another $7mm of cap space on top of it and all the sudden you have people talking 16-0.
What if Tom Brady isn’t taking as much of a discount as it appears and is just trading current salary for compensation in the future (documented or verbally promised) from the Patriots or the Kraft organization or a related party when he is done playing? My guess is that would be a direct violation of NFL rules and therefore outright cheating. Compensation that is off the books is still compensation. Future compensation that is tied to what he is doing now is also current compensation.
I am pretty sure I heard Greg Bedard from Sports Illustrated and a former Patriots beat reporter on the radio a few weeks ago indicate he thinks Tom Brady might end up with a piece of the Patriots in the future. Bedard’s point was not in reference to my notion; it came up for some other reason. The Patriots are currently valued at $2.5bb. Every 1% ownership of the team is worth $25mm. If Tom Brady was directly or indirectly gifted (or purchases that portion at a large discount to market value) 2%-3% of the team now or at any point in the future, that would be worth $50mm-$75mm. I suspect like many, Greg Bedard did not think much about what a “piece” of this team is worth and what that might mean.
If Tom Brady had a “piece” of the team, and it were held in a structure like this one where the owner did not have to be disclosed, would anyone ever know? If there were another shareholder in this entity that helped finance the purchase of this property, would anyone ever know? How often do NFL players purchase property with this type of structure? Some might argue this was done for privacy reasons, but it became public very quickly who bought the property and who was building the estate, probably for a variety of reasons including the fact that as the article states the Kraft’s themselves supported the plan. How often do team owners get involved in this sort of thing?
Tom Brady seems so in bed with the Patriots organization they even seem to have a business relationship together with a guy that looks to have been convicted of quackery. Same counsel, and the facility is also headquartered at Patriot Place (if they are not paying market rent, that is also compensation). These relationships seem to extend well beyond what happens on the field, and beyond Brady’s playing career. How common are these inter-twined relationships in the NFL?
At a minimum, if Tom Brady is playing for a discount that goes well beyond the typical home-town discount, that is the cheating in spirit but not in the letter of the law. This pattern of behavior has been consistently demonstrated by the Patriots organization.
Beyond that, even the most ardent Patriots fan would have to admit that if Tom Brady is taking a discounted salary now in return for an implied promise of compensation in the future, for all intents and purposes, that is cheating.
The NFL ought to take a good hard look at these types of arrangements, and down the road also pay good hard attention to any relationship Tom Brady has with the Patriots when his playing days are over. Unfortunately if the NFL ever wanted to take a good hard look at this issue, it doesn’t seem like Tom Brady’s old cell phone is around to participate in an investigation.
