Tom Brady is about to buy part of the Las Vegas Raiders and begins his career as a sports reporter

“We go through a very thorough process with all initial transfers,” Goodell said at the league's annual meeting in March, “so we're going through that process right now.”

Raiders owner Mark Davis told NFL.com, “I have no comment at this time,” before expressing his excitement for the Raiders' regular-season opener on Sunday at the Los Angeles Chargers.

Sources with direct knowledge of the situation said many of the issues, such as valuation and Brady's role as a FOX broadcaster, have been addressed and worked through – and that they are now in a much better position. All sides are happy with the approved valuation of Brady's stake, which explains why it will move from the finance committee to the vote on total ownership, where a three-quarters majority is required for approval.

In the meantime, Brady will buy a stake in the Raiders, knowing that this will limit his ability to access his work as a broadcaster for FOX. Brady's restrictions include not being allowed in other teams' facilities, not being allowed to watch practices, and not being allowed to attend production meetings. However, his entire production team would attend the meetings.

Color analysts typically get insight from teams during production meetings. Brady is also prohibited from criticizing officials, although what is criticism and what is analysis is open to interpretation.

While he waited a year to start commentating on FOX, Brady privately worked on his craft and commentated on countless games in preparation for what could be his most highly anticipated commentating debut in years.