Fox Announces Tom Brady Series as Part of 2021 Weekend Sports Push

Tyler Hersko

May 17, 2021 at 6:08 p.m.·2 min read

Fox Entertainment is working on an unscripted series with Super Bowl champion Tom Brady as part of the company’s renewed push into sports programming.

Fox teased the unscripted Brady series during the company’s virtual 2021 upfront event on Monday, which included a primetime schedule that emphasizing sports programming on the weekend. Fox’s fall 2021 schedule includes “WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown,” which will air for two hours starting at 8 p.m. every Friday, as well as “Fox Sports Saturday,” which will kick off at 7 p.m. on Saturday and run for three and a half hours. The company’s weekend sports programming will be rounded out by “NFL on Fox,” which will air every Sunday from 7 to 7:30 p.m. Fox has several other sports projects in the works, including a John Madden documentary that will narration from Tom Rinaldi.

More from IndieWire

Sports programming tends to be a significant moneymaker for television companies and are a high priority programming to market to advertisers. NBCUniversal boasted during its virtual upfront event on Monday that it will air the Olympics (of which many events will stream on Peacock) and the Super Bowl as key programming this year. Meanwhile, ViacomCBS touted the live sports programming as a key feature of its recently rebranded flagship streaming service Paramount+.

Despite their monetary importance, sports programming tends to not be featured heavily during entertainment companies’ annual upfront events. Though Fox primarily focused on scripted shows during its Monday upfront, they aimed to break from the mold this year by hosting a separate sports-focused event for advertisers last week. For Fox, emphasizing the company’s sports programming is a key way to attract advertisers and their money. Seth Winter, an executive vice president of sports sales at Fox Sports, argued in an interview with Variety last week that it is easier to feature advertisements on unscripted shows such as live sports as opposed to scripted television series. Meanwhile, the demand for ad space on sports programming continues to remain high.

“The cadence of business has been intense,” Winter said in the interview. “We have been in conversations for two months” and are “well along in conversations with most of the holding companies.”

Best of IndieWire

Reuters
Somalia detains U.S.-trained commandos over theft of rations
Somalia's government said it had suspended and detained several members of an elite, U.S.-trained commando unit for stealing rations donated by the United States, adding that it was taking over responsibility for provisioning the force. The Danab unit has been a key pillar of U.S.-backed efforts to combat the al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab. The United States agreed in February to spend more than $100 million to build up to five military bases for Danab.
4 minutes ago
Thomson Reuters StreetEvents
Q3 2024 LSI Industries Inc Earnings Call
Q3 2024 LSI Industries Inc Earnings Call
4 minutes ago
Digital Spy
AEW boss Tony Khan wears neck brace during NFL draft
Tony Khan, the owner of AEW and the Jacksonville Jaguars, appeared on the NFL Draft wearing a neck brace after having been attacked by The Elite on Dynamite.
4 minutes ago
Simply Wall St.
We Think Skillcast Group (LON:SKL) Can Easily Afford To Drive Business Growth
Even when a business is losing money, it's possible for shareholders to make money if they buy a good business at the...
5 minutes ago
PA Media: UK News
Campaigners hail ‘victory for seas’ as ministers lose appeal over dredging
The Court of Session in Edinburgh has upheld an earlier ruling that the Scottish Government’s approach to licensing scallop dredging is unlawful.
6 minutes ago
BBC
Co-op Live: Manchester venue boss resigns after shows postponed
Gary Roden quits days after he was criticised for telling BBC some grassroots music venues are "poorly run".
8 minutes ago
Evening Standard
London travel news LIVE: Two Tube lines suspended due to 'casualty on tracks' amid new London Underground strike
The Hammersmith and City line has been suspended on Friday morning as emergency workers respond to a casualty on the track. The incident has also closed the District line between Tower Hill and Upminster with severe delays on the rest of the line. Meanwhile customer service managers on the London Underground are staging a fresh 24-hour strike in a dispute over terms and conditions.
9 minutes ago
Associated Press
Muslim groups claim double standards in police handling of two high-profile stabbings in Sydney
Muslim groups in Australia on Friday criticized the disparity in the police response to two stabbing attacks in Sydney this month, saying it had created a perception of a double standard and further alienated the country's minority Muslim community. The Australian National Imams Council said an attack at a Bondi Junction shopping center was “quickly deemed a mental health issue” while the stabbing of a Christian bishop at a Sydney church two days later was “classified as a terrorist act almost immediately.”
9 minutes ago
Simply Wall St.
Are Fletcher King Plc's (LON:FLK) Mixed Financials Driving The Negative Sentiment?
With its stock down 4.1% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Fletcher King (LON:FLK). It seems that the...
10 minutes ago
BBC
Princess Royal meets apprentices building a future
One of the trainee builders says "I have finally found a path where I can see myself progressing".
10 minutes ago
HuffPost UK
Emmanuel Macron Launches Bitter Attack On Rishi Sunak's Rwanda Plan
The French president said deporting migrants to Africa was "a betrayal of European values".
11 minutes ago
Hello!
Death in Paradise's Ralf Little issues 'explanation' amid fan concern over missed radio interview
Death in Paradise star Ralf Little has shared an explanation for why he missed an interview on the radio on Thursday after sparking concern from fans. It comes just a month after his departure from the BBC crime drama…
13 minutes ago
BBC
East Yorkshire charity pays £45,000 to dispose of unsellable items
Dove House Hospice says it welcomes all donations, but needs items in a "good sellable condition".
14 minutes ago
Evening Standard
FTSE 100 Live 25 April: Index closes at record high again despite US GDP disappointment, £31bn takeover move
A £31 billion takeover pursuit and some robust blue-chip updates helped to boost the FTSE 100 index today. Anglo American, whose interests include De Beers and the giant Woodsmith polyhalite project in North Yorkshire, is the target of Australia’s BHP. Meanwhile, shares in Barclays, AstraZeneca and Unilever performed strongly after their first quarter updates.
14 minutes ago
HuffPost UK
Denise Welch, Matty Healy's Mum, Has Finally Spoken Out About Taylor Swift's New Album
The Tortured Poets Department review we've all been waiting for is here.
15 minutes ago
BBC
What's behind a dramatic fall in Indian families' savings?
Indians, traditionally known as avid savers, are now stashing away less money and borrowing more.
15 minutes ago
BBC
Block of flats approved next to Derby pub and GP surgery
Fears were raised the four-storey building would be "overbearing" for neighbouring properties.
15 minutes ago
BBC
Surgery for Indian woman who inhaled nose pin
A doctor who removed the pin from Varsha Sahu's lung last month described it as an "extremely rare" case.
16 minutes ago
Reuters
QUOTES-BOJ Governor Ueda's comments at news conference
The Bank of Japan kept interest rates around zero on Friday and highlighted a growing conviction that inflation was on track to durably hit 2% in coming years, signalling its readiness to hike borrowing costs later this year.
16 minutes ago
Evening Standard
FTSE 100 Live 26 April: Anglo American rejects BHP offer, blue-chips set for new record
Van rental and services firm Redde Northgate is to change its name to Zigup, in order to to “shift the narrative” about its “strategic direction of travel”. It said an increasing focus on packaged services meant that it wanted a name that was not just associated with van rental. While the parent company will become Zigup, its brands will keep their existing names.
18 minutes ago

Latest Stories