The New England Patriots had to wait a year to unveil the Tom Brady statue, with the legendary’s quarterback busy schedule proving to be a major obstacle
Tom Brady’s FOX Sports commitments have delayed the unveiling of his statue(Image: Getty Images)
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed that a statue of Tom Brady has been collecting dust for over a year while tucked away “in storage.”
During the first season of Brady’s monster 10-year, $375 million contract with FOX, Kraft planned on honoring the former NFL quarterback with a statue unveiling outside Gillette Stadium.
But the opportunity never arose due to the analyst’s busy schedule — which is slated to get even more packed after the network announced it’s gained the rights to a record-breaking 11th NFL doubleheader.
While making an appearance on the ‘Up & Adams’ show, Kraft shared that the 12-foot tall bronze statue will finally come out of hiding ahead of the Patriots’ preseason game against the Washington Commanders on August 8.
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“Well, that’s exciting,” Kraft began. “We’ve had it in storage for over a year. We had hoped to do it a year ago. Tommy is so busy, and so it was just hard to find the time.
“And when he got his announcing job with FOX — where, by the way, I think he’s off the charts at what he’s doing. How lucky are we to have the 199th pick be the greatest player ever to play in the over a hundred year old history of the NFL?
“He played for us, and he’s just a great human being. And we’re excited to honor him before the game next Friday.”
To host Kay Adam’s surprise, Kraft asserted that Brady has yet to even lay eyes on his statue.
“He hasn’t seen it,” Kraft added. “It’s pretty cool, it’s 12 feet. It’s going to be permanently in Patriot Place in a very prominent spot. And we’re really honored to have had the privilege of having him with us for two decades. It’ll be a fun day.”
Robert Kraft revealed that the New England Patriots will unveil Brady’s statue on August 8(Image: Getty Images)
Earlier this month, former Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman couldn’t help but poke fun at the delay in his ex-teammate’s statue unveiling. During a sitdown with Kraft on the ‘Dudes on Dudes’ podcast, the 39-year-old jokingly suggested that co-host Rob Gronkowski should be tasked with sculpting Brady’s likeness.
“We keep hearing about this Tom Brady statue, I think that we should just hire Gronk to be the sculptor of that statue,” Edelman said. “I think that would be unbelievable and everyone will remember that.”
Kraft swiftly poured cold water on the idea, noting that the sculpture had already been made. “It’s a wonderful suggestion, except we made the statue last year,” he replied.
“And Tommy started broadcasting and we couldn’t get him up so we have him coming August eighth. Actually I would love, since I saw your artistic work with the trophy, if you did it.
“We had the privilege of spending seven figures,” Kraft continued. “We have the statue in storage in Foxboro. We wanted to present it last year but we’re going to unveil it our first preseason game against Washington. You’ll see it, it’s unbelievable, he’s not a bad looking guy too.”