Maybe it was inevitable that once Tom Brady conquered American football, he would set his sights on the other kind. Still, it came as a surprise last week when Birmingham City announced that the NFL great would be partnering with Knighthead Capital Management to take on a minority stake in the English Championship club.
The nature of Birmingham’s interest is self-evident. First of all, there’s the media attention. Birmingham’s footprint in the lucrative US market was nonexistent a few days ago, but that’s changed now they are associated with one of the most famous people in America. And Brady is not just any celebrity but one who embodies team success and individual greatness: a seven-time Super Bowl champion with an obsessive drive to win, he also holds a legitimate claim to being the best player in NFL history.
In announcing the deal, Knighthead co-founder Tom Wagner emphasized the symbolism at play, calling the move a “statement of intent” about City’s desire to win. Wagner ended his announcement with a suggestion that Brady wouldn’t just be a figurehead minority owner but would have a prominent role in the organization.
Chairman of the Board, Tom Wagner, on the appointment of @TomBrady. pic.twitter.com/WDnn7s2JaF
— Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) August 3, 2023
“Tom is committed … to make Birmingham City a respected leader in nutrition, health, wellness and recovery across the world of football,” said Wagner.
That all sounds like a rather unglamorous job to hand to Gisele Bündchen’s ex-husband, a man who has hosted Saturday Night Live and appeared as himself on Entourage. Knowing Brady, however, this may have been part of the sales pitch that appealed to him most.
Very few athletes have been as obsessed with finding the fountain of youth as Brady. While he couldn’t quite reach his goal of playing in the NFL until he was 50, he managed to stay in the league until retiring earlier this year as the league’s oldest player at age 45. Just two years before, he had won his seventh and final Super Bowl.
The longer Brady defied Father Time, the more credit he gave to his personal health guru and business partner, Alex Guerrero. This proved controversial given that Guerrero, who is not legally allowed to call himself a doctor, had a history checkered enough to compel Boston Magazine to label him “a glorified snake-oil salesman.” Brady publicly claiming that drinking enough water could prevent sunburn, and bragging about never eating strawberries, didn’t really help dispel this impression.
Brady’s relentless promotion of what was eventually branded the TB-12 Method reportedly factored into his power struggle with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick during the end of their time together. Based on how evangelical Brady was about this during his stint in New England, this newfound “nutrition and health” advisory role with Birmingham may end up being more than a financial investment and an impressive title for him. He could genuinely be interested in doing the actual job (Scott Hogan may want to order his bioceramic pajamas ASAP). Whether that’s good news for Birmingham City is debatable.
Time will tell. At the moment, Brady merely has a financial investment in a sports franchise, something he’s done before on a slightly more local level. Brady already owns a stake in the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces and, pending league approval, will be a minority owner of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.
It shouldn’t be surprising when an athlete’s post-playing days involve a move into ownership. After all, players know firsthand that the true power in an organization lies not in management, but among those who pay management’s salaries. Brady is not even the first notable US sports star to venture to the UK to do just that. He is merely following in the footsteps of peers such as LeBron James, Jordan Spieth and JJ Watt. Call it the Ted Lasso Effect.
Now, why Birmingham City and not a club with a more storied history or better name recognition? Well, the main reason is the rather boring one that Brady has a pre-existing relationship with Knighthead Capital. He and Wagner even went in together to buy a Major League Pickleball team last year. This may have been a done deal the second Knighthead took over Birmingham.
That answer is not very inspiring, but Brady came up with a solid cover story. “I know I like being the underdog,” Brady said when the deal was announced, before referencing the team’s anthem. “The road’s been long for Birmingham, but these fans have never stopped believing.”
This is a fantastic bit of public relations because it immediately situates this move within the context of Brady’s famous career. For all his success, he has always pushed the “nobody believed in me” angle, and why wouldn’t he?
As the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL draft, Brady came from nowhere to help transform the Patriots from AFC also-rans into an all-time sports dynasty. Then, just to prove to doubters that he could win without Belichick, he won his seventh Super Bowl ring in his first go-around with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
So now Brady is effectively lending his “underdog made good” legacy to Birmingham for a spell, and that’s really all the club needs from him. Brady himself freely admits that “he has a lot to learn” about English football, suggesting his role will remain somewhere between celebrity mascot and health and hydration czar.
The potential payoff? Should Birmingham prosper with Brady on board, he’s made himself part of the story regardless of how little or how much he actually contributes. Who knows? This all could be setting us up for the plot of 80 for Brady Part II.
