Tom Brady’s hopes of playing the first four games of the 2016 season are rapidly dwindling.
On Wednesday, the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals denied a request to lift four requests to suspend games scheduled for the first four games of this upcoming season. The decision was unanimous – not a single member of the 13 panel of judges brought up a disagreement.
The only remaining possibility for Brady and Company’s suspension to be lifted is to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. They have up to 90 days to file a complaint, and according to a spokesperson for Brady, they are unsure at this point whether they will attempt. Even if they do, they have an extremely long shot to get a favorable result.
(Jim Rogash / Getty Images)
With suspension – a suspension that was initially administered on May 11, 2015 – is almost a guarantee at this point, it’s time to look forward to the 2016-17 NFL season, which Brady most likely will have to sit outside. But during the suspension, football won’t be the only thing he misses out on.
Brady will lose about $236k over the course of watching playing the Patriots from home.
Wait – right? $236k doesn’t seem like much for four games played by one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Here’s what happened:
If Brady’s contract remains in place this season, he will be expected to earn $9 million next season. In that case, a four-game suspension would cost him four seventeenths of his gross annual salary, or $2.11 million.
Because the Patriots could read the signs and realize that Brady’s suspension would probably be maintained, they restructured his contract in February so he wouldn’t lose much money. Reportedly, they offered him a $28 million bonus to extend his two-year contract, then offered to pay him $1 million for the first two years and $14 million for each. next two years. So when his paychecks docked for the suspension, he lost just four-seventeenths of a million dollars, or $236k.
Call Tom Brady and the Patriots what you want, but there’s definitely something to be said for this kind of loyalty to your star player, especially in this age of NFL.