PHOENIX — There will be no surprise appearance from Tom Brady on the Super Bowl 2023 pregame show Sunday, both Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks and the network’s executive producer, Brad Zager said.
“He’s not going to be on our set,” Zager said Tuesday during an interview at the network’s media day. “He won’t be in the booth.”
Shanks also affirmed that would be the case during an appearance on “The Marchand & Ourand Sports Media” podcast, which will be available Wednesday.
Brady already announced that he won’t start his tenure with Fox Sports until the fall of 2024, choosing to take a year off before joining the network. The Post has reported that his contract will be for 10 years and $375 million.
Greg Olsen will work the Super Bowl as Fox’s lead game analyst, but knows that Brady is contracted to take his No. 1 spot after next season.
“I knew what I had signed up for,” Olsen said. “I knew when I sat in the seat that that shadow was always going to kind of be there. My approach this year was very similar to my approach as a player. You can’t control that. You can’t control the next draft pick they bring in to take your spot. You can’t control the next rookie or in this case the greatest football player of all time. My hope was to just go out there and show that I belong and show that I might not have some of the résumé, playing quarterback in a big market, but as far as doing this job, that I belong. That’s been my mission. That’s been my objective the whole year. It could last one year, two years, 10 years.”
When Brady joins, Olsen would shift from the top team to the No. 2 spot and his salary would drop from around $10 million to the $3 million range.