Legendary New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, whose post-NFL career has taken a variety of unusual turns, will return to Gillette Stadium, home of the team that started his pro football career, later this week, the team announced on Sunday â which was also Brady’s birthday.
The occasion will be the unveiling of a 12-foot bronze statue of the now-48-year-old retired quarterback who has since become an in-game analyst for Fox Sports NFL broadcasts.
The statute has been completed for about one year, but has been waiting in storage to be unveiled on date when the iconic ex-Patriot who led the franchise not only to its first-ever Super Bowl championship in the 2001 season, but to five more after that.
First Available Date for Unveiling Statue
Brady also took the Patriots to three other Super Bowls which ended in defeats. He departed the Patriots after the 2019 season to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a free agent and promptly won a seventh Super Bowl in his first season there, 2020, only the second in the 50-year existence of that franchise.
The Patriots had planned to unveil the Brady statue during the season last year, but the future Hall of Famer’s broadcasting schedule did not allow him to travel to Foxborough, Massachusetts, on a game day, as the Patriots had hoped, according to owner Robert Kraft.
Kraft Calls Brady ‘Great Human Being’
“We’ve had it in storage for over a year. We had hoped to do it a year ago, but Tommy is so busy. It was just hard to find a time,” Kraft said in a Boston-area radio interview last week. “How lucky are we to have the 199th pick be the greatest player to ever play in the over 100-year history of the NFL? He played for us, and he’s just a great human being. We are excited to honor him before the game next Friday.”
Kraft was referring to the fact that Brady went undrafted after finishing his college career, until in his first draft as Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick selected the Michigan quarterback near the end of the sixth round in 2000, No. 199 overall.
Ceremony Precedes Preseason Opener
The unveiling ceremony will take place prior to the Patriots’ opening preseason game against the Washington Commanders. The ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, prior to the 8 p.m. kickoff, Kraft announced.
Since retiring from the NFL, Brady’s career has branched out into a staggering array of unexpected fields, in addition to his most high-profile endeavor as a Fox broadcaster.
Brady’s Business Portfolio Expands
In addition to becoming a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, Brady has also purchased shares or ownership in several other sports franchises including the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA, Birmingham City FC (and English soccer team), professional pickleball club the Las Vegas Owls, and an E1 powerboat racing franchise known as Team Brady.
Brady also owns a film and TV production company, 199 Productions, named in commemoration of his draft slot. The company produced the comedy film 80 For Brady, as well as the Netflix streaming special The Roast of Tom Brady.
Brady has also started a line of organic gummy snacks, and served as a used-car pitchman for the Hertz corporation.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Patriots Make Significant Tom Brady Announcement appeared first on Heavy Sports.