Since stepping into his Fox analyst role last season, Tom Brady has found a new rhythm behind the camera. He isn’t just reporting games every weekend; he says he’s become a storyteller. And this Wednesday, Fox made the kind of play that proves they’re all-in on TB12’s new chapter.

Fox Sports has made a strategic investment in Shadow Lion, the $5 million entertainment and marketing studio co-founded by Brady himself. The deal gives Fox an equity stake and new creative muscle in its Los Angeles crowd. 

“It’s extending this Fox Sports experience beyond just NFL games on Sunday,” Brady told The Hollywood Reporter. “How do we branch out and continue to tell stories year round and develop original content, original series, things that are behind the scenes that everybody wants to see…I think it’s just exponential growth. And I’m so excited to have all these things happen in one place.”

Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks said the partnership didn’t just happen overnight. 

“Once we met them, it became pretty clear that a partnership with Shadow Lion and Tom could Give Fox Sports, I think, a different gear, a new gear, and as time went on, it became a natural conversation and investment for the long term,” Shanks said.

Fox has a track record with strategic creative partnerships. From working with Gordon Ramsay’s Studio Ramsey Global to stakes in rising entertainment ventures like Holywater. But this one? It hits closer to home. It’s Brady, the face of Fox NFL Sundays, turning storytelling into an extension of the brand itself.

Brady even shared a photo with his team, captioned: “LFG!” Co-founder Gilad Haas calls this “a new chapter.” One aimed at making the studio talent-led, ambitious, and scalable. The goal is to grow far beyond Brady’s own image, producing everything from short-form content to documentaries under the same roof Fox now occupies. 

Tom Brady’s first big project post-investment

The first creative flag of this new partnership plants right where Brady’s football story began: Ann Arbor. Shadow Lion’s debut project with Fox will be a docuseries centered on the University of Michigan football program.

Brady and the LA Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh are going to be the executive producers. 

“It was a huge moment in my life, my career there,” Brady says. “Being in Ann Arbor and seeing the program and seeing what coach Harbaugh built felt like the perfect way to start the collaboration.”

Shadow Lion is also expanding its footprint with a new office on the Fox lot, where head of content Philip Byron will lead its growing slate of projects. The studio’s aim stretches beyond football or brand stories; it wants to build emotional connections through creativity. 

“It’s not just the Tom content company,” Shanks says. “I think when you look at the number of brands that they activate through storytelling…I think those are the gears that we think can be beneficial to Fox. In return, our relationship with brands, and having a new outlet for our brand partnerships to easily be able to take them to Shadow Lion is something that we find really attractive, and I think brands will as well.”

And with Fox’s global scale powering it, Brady’s once-a-week storytelling gig might just become a year-round fixture.