After grinding for more than 2 decades in the NFL, most athletes in Tom Brady’s place would have chosen to spend their retirement the easy way — savvy venture capital investments and living life in vacation mode 24/7.
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But the seven-time Super Bowl winner’s post-NFL life hasn’t been about kicking back. Ever since walking away from the field, the GOAT has leaned into a new kind of challenge: turning underdog franchises into winners.
For instance, he’s now a part-owner of the Las Vegas Aces, the Las Vegas Raiders, and an E1 electric boat racing team. But it’s his latest project, English soccer club Birmingham City FC, that seems to be closest to his heart.
In the latest edition of his 199 newsletter, Tom Brady pulled back the curtain on what he’s really trying to build and the efforts behind building a championship-winning side.
For starters, he revealed that his formula for building a winning team has little to do with highlight reels and everything to do with values. It starts with finding the right people, the kind who know that hard work, commitment, and resilience aren’t just buzzwords.
“When your values are fully embodied, they become your priorities,” he explained. “Then, your priorities inspire your actions… and with time, what was second nature becomes who you are.”
It’s a mindset he’s carried since his early days. Growing up in the Bay Area, Brady saw firsthand how Bill Walsh’s 49ers became a part of the community’s identity.
He experienced it again in college at Michigan, where 100,000 fans would pack The Big House every Saturday. Then, in New England, he helped turn the Patriots from just another Boston team into a dynasty with a devoted following.
Now, he’s applying those same principles across the Atlantic because with Birmingham City, he sees a chance to build something lasting, something that connects with fans far beyond the team’s postal code.
Fortunately enough, this task has been made easier for Brady, thanks to streaming and social media, whose potential is something that the GOAT believes in. “The world is so flat now… it’s possible for anyone to find success, however you choose to define it.”
That’s why, in his view, smaller clubs can now dream bigger: “Think the Savannah Bananas baseball team. Think the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team. They’re not huge-market teams — they just do a great job showing people what they’re about.”
Luckily for us, we will soon see this mindset being implemented in live action as the upcoming Amazon Prime docuseries Built in Birmingham: Brady & The Blues (premiering August 1) will chronicle this process.
It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how he’s applying lessons from his NFL days into the daily operations of a lower-tier English club striving for a return to relevance, something Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham AFC has done successfully over the years.
And hilariously enough, Brady doesn’t shy away from the comparison, even throwing a jab at Hollywood’s Welsh takeover by stating, “Maybe one day soon [we] eclipse what those fancy Hollywood actors are doing over at Wrexham AFC.”
All said and done, despite noting the nuances of a championship-calibre team, Brady’s core principle remains the same: winning, the right way.
“Winning is always the ultimate goal,” he wrote, “but it loses some of its meaning when you lose sight of the team and the community that were a part of that victory.”
With his project Built in Birmingham, Brady is inviting fans to get a closer look at how everything is coming together — from the struggle to the values, and the people. “We believe we’re building something very special,” he said.
