Tom Brady vented his disappointment over the NFL Players Association after Forbes recently announced increased revenue for NFL teams amid a salary cap decrease.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback ranted on Instagram, citing the Forbes report released on Thursday, that the “average value of NFL franchises (is) up 14% despite revenue drop, topped by (the) Dallas Cowboys.”
Brady added that “the salary cap dropped by 20% … and the new media deals were announced the day after (the) 2021 salary cap was set … NFL players better wake up NFLPA. NLF Players are ignorant.”
Forbes’ Mike Ozanian and Christina Settimi reported that NFL teams’ average value “soared” to $3.5 billion in value this year. The NFL had a 20% revenue decrease in 2020 amid mostly empty stadiums due to COVID-19. That didn’t stop the league from signing $112.6 billion in media rights deals — including the ESPN Monday Night Football extension.
The NFL announced those deals on March 18 per NFL.com’s Grant Gordon. The league announced the salary cap for teams dipping to $182.5 million on March 10 per NFL.com’s Kevin Patra.
That’s down from $198.2 million in 2020 — an 8% decrease according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. Teams had a cap of $188.2 million in 2019 and $177.2 million in 2018 to work with previously per NFL.com.
NFLPA and NFL negotiations on the 2021 salary cap nearly delayed the franchise tag deadline per CBS Sports’ Patrick Walker.
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Bucs Best Revenue Increase
Tampa reached the pinnacle on the field but will have a ways to climb to reach the heights of NFL finances.
The Bucs ranked 21st for revenue according to Forbes at $2.94 billion but have one of the lowest operating incomes in the league at $1.9 million. Revenue improved 29% for the Bucs, a league high for 2020.
Forbes called the Bucs brand “reborn” and that the team had “a surge in season-ticked and merchandise sales since the arrival of Tom Brady in March 2020 and pushed through significant ticket-price increases for the 2021 season.”
Brady’s Rants Over League Issues
Brady started a habit of ranting about league issues in the offseason, starting with the number change rules.
The NFL “approved a relaxation of rules” for jersey numbers, which allowed players greater freedom in choosing their numbers per Seifert. For instance, running backs and wide receivers can now wear single-digit numbers.
Brady called it “dumb” on Instagram and added “why not the lineman wear whatever they want, too? Why have numbers? Just have colored jerseys … why not wear the same number?”
He also wrote “good luck trying to block the right people now” and it’s “going to make for a lot of bad football” in another Instagram story.
Brady also went off about offseason workouts during an NFLPA conference call.
“We shouldn’t have overly competitive drills in May and June,” Brady said the May conference call according to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. “There’s no (expletive) pro baseball player that’s throwing 95 mph in the middle of December.”
Tom Brady on why players should get to workout on their own in the offseason: “We shouldn’t have overly competitive drills in May and June. There’s no (bleeping) pro baseball player that’s throwing 95 mph in the middle of December.”
Both of Brady’s tirades have been met with doubts.
Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Cwlk joked that Brady may fear the number change and will get confused. NFL commentator and Hall-of-Fame quarterback Troy Aikman expressed Brady’s workout rant was really reverse psychology.
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Tom Brady Blasts NFL Players Over ‘Ignorance’