THE UNPARALLELED SUCCESS OF THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS WILL NEVER BE REPEATED IN THE HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE DUE TO THE GISELE FACTOR

Tom Brady could have been one of the highest paid NFL players ever to play the game.

However, he is not.

Brady has made $197 million over the course of his career, so nobody is shedding tears for him.

Brady has frequently taken contract extensions and restructured his deals to help the New England Patriots address other spots on the roster, giving up at least $60 million over the course of his career. Even those who heartily pull against the Patriots in every game, not just the Super Bowl, (and full disclosure, this would describe me) would have the utmost respect for ANY person who thought of his team more than he did himself, (I do).

Brady has made plenty of money in his NFL career —but what if he had not taken less or restructured contracts over the course of his career to help the Patriots out? Brady would be a richer man, and perhaps the highest-paid player in NFL history. There are many factors to winning a Super Bowl—the only one game championship in major American sports (all others are a series of games).

We call it “The Gisele Factor.”

A good-looking brash quarter back is nothing new to the league. Seriously, Joe Namath was the original “Bachelor,” Super Bowl MVP and “heart throb”…but those are almost a dime a dozen in the sport. What makes these Patriots tick in a way that no other NFL team has, or probably ever will again?

Six wins and three losses have been with Tom Brady at QB and Bill Belichick as head coach.

Again, WHAT is the secret sauce?

THE GISELE FACTOR

Tom Brady has willingly restructured his contract and taken less money so that the team could competitively sign significant contributors and keep them under the salary cap. Obviously, Brady has made “a lot” of money comparative to the average Joe, but why leave that kind of scratch off the table? Millions of dollars. He clearly must be the ultimate team player, but everyone has a “hedge.”

Along comes Gisele Caroline Bündchenis a Brazilian model and actress. I can’t tell you how or when they met…don’t care frankly. Since 2004, Bündchen has been among the highest-paid models in the world, and one of the richest woman in the entertainment industry.

Bündchen is an icon; her net worth is almost $500 million. That’s “half a Bil” to people like Warren Buffet and Mark Zuckerberg.  To most people it is more money than generations have amassed.
Bündchen married Brady in 2009. Together the couple is approaching 1 Billion in net worth. However, at the end of the day, that is really their business. No one can tell them how to live or spend their money, or what they should negotiate for future remuneration.

That is why we give Brady great credit. Many men would feel the need to squeeze every buck out of their employer in order to “compete” as the breadwinner. At the end of the day, he not only did not feel the need to do that, he was smart enough to realize that his income level would benefit the type of players the front office got to surround #12.

So, if you are an NFL owner, you need that star QB, that is hard enough…but then you also need  some relief in the form of a super model who makes millions of dollars and a guy who gets that team first philosophy….

Good luck, that is why we conclude this one sided debate with this thesis…

The Patriots model can truly never happen again.