Culture
Timeline of Tom Brady’s bid to become part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders
Legendary quarterback Tom Brady’s bid to become a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders is expected to be approved at the NFL’s fall owners’ meetings in Atlanta on Tuesday, according to a league source. The league’s financial committee will review Brady’s bid, and a vote is expected to receive the necessary 24 votes out of 32 owners to approve the approximately 10 percent stake Brady and his business partner, Tom Wagner, plan to purchase.
Here’s a timeline of Brady’s path to potentially becoming a minority owner of the Raiders.
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January 18, 2020: Brady attended UFC 246 in Las Vegas and was photographed smiling with Raiders owner Mark Davis and then-Raiders executive Marcel Reece. The Raiders were entering their first season in Las Vegas, while Brady was coming off what would be his final season with the New England Patriots. With Brady set to become an unrestricted free agent that March, rumors were swirling he could sign with the Raiders to replace Derek Carr.
The Raiders considered pursuing Brady, but coach Jon Gruden, who had personnel power, decided against it and stuck with Carr. Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the Raiders’ flirtation remained significant as Brady’s relationship with Davis deepened.
In an appearance on CBS Sports Radio last year, former Raiders CEO Amy Trask said that Davis has leaned on sportscaster Jim Gray as a “primary adviser” over the years and that, at some point, Gray “facilitated the relationship” between Davis and Brady.
January 14, 2021: Davis agreed to purchase the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces. He’d been an Aces season ticket holder since 2018 and a fan of the WNBA since play began in 1997.
February 12: 2021: Davis’ purchase of the Aces was formally approved by the WNBA and its owners.
February 1, 2022: Brady announced his retirement from the NFL after 22 seasons at age 44. He won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers following the 2020 season, but they lost in the divisional round of the playoffs the next season.
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March 13, 2022: Fourty days after announcing his retirement, Brady changed his mind and announced he’d return to play for the Bucs in 2022. He signed a restructured one-year extension in April.
May 10, 2022: Fox Sports announced it signed Brady to a 10-year, $375 million contract to become its lead color commentator for NFL games. The plan was for him to start whenever his playing career concluded.
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May 31, 2022: Brady attended an Aces game in Las Vegas. He caught up with Davis and expressed his admiration for what he and the franchise were building. On the court, the team was thriving and en route to its first WNBA title later that season. The Aces were regularly selling out games and drawing some of the best attendance in the league.
“I think he was just really impressed with how far women’s basketball has come,” Davis told The Athletic last year. “And he was also impressed by the excitement and the enthusiasm of the crowd in Las Vegas.”
Shortly after the game, Brady’s representatives reached out to Davis and asked whether he would be willing to sell a minority stake in the Aces.
“He knew that I was in it, and I think he just felt he wanted to be a part of it,” Davis said. “And so, his people contacted me, and we talked about it, and he became a partner.”
Welcome to the Aces Family, @TomBrady! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/4bj3IPQz2K
— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) March 24, 2023
Dec. 28, 2022: Coach Josh McDaniels announced the Raiders were benching Carr. Although Carr had signed a three-year extension with the franchise that April, it included a clause that allowed the Raiders to easily get out of the contract after one season. In benching Carr, McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler made it obvious that they planned to move on from the veteran quarterback.
That meant the Raiders needed to find a new starting quarterback. The Raiders viewed Brady as their primary option, according to league sources. As a Patriots assistant coach, McDaniels won six Super Bowls and produced some of the league’s best offenses working alongside Brady in New England. Brady was set to become an unrestricted free agent in March 2023, and there was reason to believe he could look to play elsewhere if he didn’t win another Super Bowl with Tampa Bay.
Jan. 16, 2023: The Bucs were eliminated in the wild-card round of the playoffs in an embarrassing 31-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Feb. 1, 2023: Brady announced his retirement “for good.” This time, he didn’t go back on the decision.
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March 23, 2023: The Aces formally announced that Brady had reached an agreement with Davis to become a minority owner. Although Brady had passed on the opportunity to play for the Raiders, his relationship with Davis made it a good fit.
“I am very excited to be part of the Las Vegas Aces organization,” Brady said in a statement released by the team. “My love for women’s sports began at a young age when I would tag along to all my older sisters’ games. They were by far the best athletes in our house! … I have always been a huge fan of women’s sports, and I admire the work that the Aces’ players, staff and the WNBA continue to do to grow the sport and empower future generations of athletes. To be able to contribute in any way to that mission as a member of the Aces organization is an incredible honor.”
Tom Brady, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert and Raiders and Aces owner Mark Davis attend a 2023 WNBA championship banner-raising ceremony before the Aces’ 2024 home opener on May 14. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
May 22, 2023: Davis told ESPN he had come to an agreement with Brady for him to purchase a minority ownership stake in the Raiders.
“We’re excited for Tom to join the Raiders,” Davis told ESPN, “and it’s exciting because he will be just the third player in the history of the National Football League (after George Halas Sr. and Jerry Richardson) to become an owner.”
Oct. 5, 2023: The Washington Post reported that Brady’s bid to become a part-owner of the Raiders had hit a snag. According to the report, there was concern by the other NFL owners about Davis offering Brady a reduced price for a 10 percent stake. When contacted by The Athletic, Davis and Brady’s representation declined to comment.
Aug. 28, 2024: As Brady prepared to make his broadcasting debut with Fox Sports in Week 1, he learned he’d face extensive restrictions due to his bid to acquire an ownership stake in the Raiders.
Although Brady still hadn’t been formally approved as a minority owner, a league source told The Athletic he would not be allowed key access typical for NFL broadcasters in his role as a Fox analyst. He’s not allowed access to other teams’ facilities and practices and can’t attend broadcast production meetings, which usually include meetings with coaches and players ahead of games. He’s also not allowed to publicly criticize officials or other teams and could be fined or suspended if the league feels he breaks that policy. He also must abide by the league’s gambling and anti-tampering policies and is limited to “strictly social communication” with members of other teams.
A network source told The Athletic that Fox Sports had no concerns about the limitations, and Brady agreed to them.
Oct. 5, 2024: According to the Washington Post, Brady and businessman Tom Wagner, the co-founder of Knighthead Capital Management, increased their financial offer to purchase a 10 percent stake in the Raiders from Davis.
Oct. 15, 2024: The NFL’s fall owners’ meetings take place in Atlanta. If the owners vote on Brady’s bid as expected, he would need 24 of the 32 votes to approve his bid. The bid is expected to be approved, according to league sources.
If they don’t vote in Atlanta, the next chance will come at the NFL’s next league meeting on Dec. 10-11 in Irving, Texas.
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The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, Richard Deitsch, Dianna Russini and Vic Tafur contributed to this report.
(Top photo of Mark Davis and Tom Brady: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
new video loaded: 250 Years of Jane Austen, in Objects
By Jennifer Harlan, Sadie Stein, Claire Hogan, Laura Salaberry and Edward Vega
December 18, 2025
“Window seat with garden view / A perfect nook to read a book / I’m lost in my Jane Austen…” sings Kristin Chenoweth in “The Girl in 14G” — what could be more ideal? Well, perhaps showing off your literary knowledge and getting a perfect score on this week’s super-size Book Review Quiz Bowl honoring the life, work and global influence of Jane Austen, who turns 250 today. In the 12 questions below, tap or click your answers to the questions. And no matter how you do, scroll on to the end, where you’ll find links to free e-book versions of her novels — and more.
On Dec. 16, 1775, a girl was born in Steventon, England — the seventh of eight children — to a clergyman and his wife. She was an avid reader, never married and died in 1817, at the age of 41. But in just those few decades, Jane Austen changed the world.
Her novels have had an outsize influence in the centuries since her death. Not only are the books themselves beloved — as sharply observed portraits of British society, revolutionary narrative projects and deliciously satisfying romances — but the stories she created have so permeated culture that people around the world care deeply about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, even if they’ve never actually read “Pride and Prejudice.”
With her 250th birthday this year, the Austen Industrial Complex has kicked into high gear with festivals, parades, museum exhibits, concerts and all manner of merch, ranging from the classily apt to the flamboyantly absurd. The words “Jane mania” have been used; so has “exh-Aust-ion.”
How to capture this brief life, and the blazing impact that has spread across the globe in her wake? Without further ado: a mere sampling of the wealth, wonder and weirdness Austen has brought to our lives. After all, your semiquincentennial doesn’t come around every day.
By ‘A Lady’
Austen published just four novels in her lifetime: “Sense and Sensibility” (1811), “Pride and Prejudice” (1813), “Mansfield Park” (1814) and “Emma” (1815). All of them were published anonymously, with the author credited simply as “A Lady.” (If you’re in New York, you can see this first edition for yourself at the Grolier Club through Feb. 14.)
Where the Magic Happened
Placed near a window for light, this diminutive walnut table was, according to family lore, where the author did much of her writing. It is now in the possession of the Jane Austen Society.
An Iconic Accessory
Few of Austen’s personal artifacts remain, contributing to the author’s mystique. One of them is this turquoise ring, which passed to her sister-in-law and then her niece after her death. In 2012, the ring was put up for auction and bought by the “American Idol” champion Kelly Clarkson. This caused quite a stir in England; British officials were loath to let such an important cultural artifact leave the country’s borders. Jane Austen’s House, the museum now based in the writer’s Hampshire home, launched a crowdfunding campaign to Bring the Ring Home and bought the piece from Clarkson. The real ring now lives at the museum; the singer has a replica.
Austen Onscreen
Since 1940, when Austen had a bit of a moment and Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier starred in MGM’s rather liberally reinterpreted “Pride and Prejudice,” there have been more than 20 international adaptations of Austen’s work made for film and TV (to say nothing of radio). From the sublime (Emma Thompson’s Oscar-winning “Sense and Sensibility”) to the ridiculous (the wholly gratuitous 2022 remake of “Persuasion”), the high waists, flickering firelight and double weddings continue to provide an endless stream of debate fodder — and work for a queen’s regiment of British stars.
Jane Goes X-Rated
The rumors are true: XXX Austen is a thing. “Jane Austen Kama Sutra,” “Pride and Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen” and enough slash fic and amateur porn to fill Bath’s Assembly Rooms are just the start. Purists may never recover.
A Lady Unmasked
Austen’s final two completed novels, “Northanger Abbey” and “Persuasion,” were published after her death. Her brother Henry, who oversaw their publication, took the opportunity to give his sister the recognition he felt she deserved, revealing the true identity of the “Lady” behind “Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma,” etc. in a biographical note. “The following pages are the production of a pen which has already contributed in no small degree to the entertainment of the public,” he wrote, extolling his sister’s imagination, good humor and love of dancing. Still, “no accumulation of fame would have induced her, had she lived, to affix her name to any productions of her pen.”
Wearable Tributes
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen fan wants to find other Jane Austen fans, and what better way to advertise your membership in that all-inclusive club than with a bit of merch — from the subtle and classy to the gloriously obscene.
The Austen Literary Universe
On the page, there is no end to the adventures Austen and her characters have been on. There are Jane Austen mysteries, Jane Austen vampire series, Jane Austen fantasy adventures, Jane Austen Y.A. novels and, of course, Jane Austen romances, which transpose her plots to a remote Maine inn, a Greenwich Village penthouse and the Bay Area Indian American community, to name just a few. You can read about Austen-inspired zombie hunters, time-traveling hockey players, Long Island matchmakers and reality TV stars, or imagine further adventures for some of your favorite characters. (Even the obsequious Mr. Collins gets his day in the sun.)
A Botanical Homage
Created in 2017 to mark the 200th anniversary of Austen’s death, the “Jane Austen” rose is characterized by its intense orange color and light, sweet perfume. It is bushy, healthy and easy to grow.
Aunt Jane
Hoping to cement his beloved aunt’s legacy, Austen’s nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published this biography — a rather rosy portrait based on interviews with family members — five decades after her death. The book is notable not only as the source (biased though it may be) of many of the scant facts we know about her life, but also for the watercolor portrait by James Andrews that serves as its frontispiece. Based on a sketch by Cassandra, this depiction of Jane is softer and far more winsome than the original: Whether that is due to a lack of skill on her sister’s part or overly enthusiastic artistic license on Andrews’s, this is the version of Austen most familiar to people today.
Cultural Currency
In 2017, the Bank of England released a new 10-pound note featuring Andrews’s portrait of Austen, as well as a line from “Pride and Prejudice”: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” Austen is the third woman — other than the queen — to be featured on British currency, and the only one currently in circulation.
In the Trenches
During World War I and World War II, British soldiers were given copies of Austen’s works. In his 1924 story “The Janeites,” Rudyard Kipling invoked the grotesque contrasts — and the strange comfort — to be found in escaping to Austen’s well-ordered world amid the horrors of trench warfare. As one character observes, “There’s no one to touch Jane when you’re in a tight place.”
Baby Janes
You’re never too young to learn to love Austen — or that one’s good opinion, once lost, may be lost forever.
The Austen Industrial Complex
Maybe you’ve not so much as seen a Jane Austen meme, let alone read one of her novels. No matter! Need a Jane Austen finger puppet? Lego? Magnetic poetry set? Lingerie? Nameplate necklace? Plush book pillow? License plate frame? Bath bomb? Socks? Dog sweater? Whiskey glass? Tarot deck? Of course you do! And you’re in luck: What a time to be alive.
Around the Globe
Austen’s novels have been translated into more than 40 languages, including Polish, Finnish, Chinese and Farsi. There are active chapters of the Jane Austen Society, her 21st-century fan club, throughout the world.
Playable Persuasions
In Austen’s era, no afternoon tea was complete without a rousing round of whist, a trick-taking card game played in two teams of two. But should you not be up on your Regency amusements, you can find plenty of contemporary puzzles and games with which to fill a few pleasant hours, whether you’re piecing together her most beloved characters or using your cunning and wiles to land your very own Mr. Darcy.
#SoJaneAusten
The wild power of the internet means that many Austen moments have taken on lives of their own, from Colin Firth’s sopping wet shirt and Matthew Macfadyen’s flexing hand to Mr. Collins’s ode to superlative spuds and Mr. Knightley’s dramatic floor flop. The memes are fun, yes, but they also speak to the universality of Austen’s writing: More than two centuries after her books were published, the characters and stories she created are as relatable as ever.
Bonnets Fit for a Bennett
For this summer’s Grand Regency Costumed Promenade in Bath, England — as well as the myriad picnics, balls, house parties, dinners, luncheons, teas and fetes that marked the anniversary — seamstresses, milliners, mantua makers and costume warehouses did a brisk business, attiring the faithful in authentic Regency finery. And that’s a commitment: A bespoke, historically accurate bonnet can easily run to hundreds of dollars.
Most Ardently, Jane
Austen was prolific correspondent, believed to have written thousands of letters in her lifetime, many to her sister, Cassandra. But in an act that has frustrated biographers for centuries, upon Jane’s death, Cassandra protected her sister’s privacy — and reputation? — by burning almost all of them, leaving only about 160 intact, many heavily redacted. But what survives is filled with pithy one-liners. To wit: “I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.”
Stage and Sensibility
Austen’s works have been adapted numerous times for the stage. Some plays (and musicals) hew closely to the original text, while others — such as Emily Breeze’s comedic riff on “Pride and Prejudice,” “Are the Bennet Girls OK?”, which is running at New York City’s West End Theater through Dec. 21 — use creative license to explore ideas of gender, romance and rage through a contemporary lens.
Austen 101
Austen remains a reliable fount of academic scholarship; recent conference papers have focused on the author’s enduring global reach, the work’s relationship to modern intersectionality, digital humanities and “Jane Austen on the Cheap.” And as one professor told our colleague Sarah Lyall of the Austen amateur scholarship hive, “Woe betide the academic who doesn’t take them seriously.”
W.W.J.D.
When facing problems — of etiquette, romance, domestic or professional turmoil — sometimes the only thing to do is ask: What would Jane do?
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