'Body coaches' and ‘game-day diet’ plans: Is Tom Brady’s future in his wellness business?
Tom Brady started his NFL career near the back of the pack, a sixth-round draft underdog who would go on to become arguably the greatest quarterback of all time.
Now, after retiring at age 44, he has the chance to follow the same playbook in business.
The five-time Super Bowl MVP is starting out modestly with business ventures like an apparel line and a video production company. But where he is probably best positioned to stand out is in the health and wellness arena with a company that he co-founded, TB12, that could become the focus of his post-NFL career.
For one, it’s a nine-year-old business that plays into his passion for a unique training regimen. For another, it’s still a relatively modest concern that some believe has plenty of running room to grow in the fitness world.
"His initial foray is narrow," said Vince Gennaro, associate dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport, in New York University's School of Professional Studies. "But I can see that as a starting point."
Brady co-founded TB12 with the trainer who is described on the company website as his best friend, Alex Guerrero. The concept, arising from an offseason conversation in 2012, was to parlay the system that seemed to be allowing Brady to perform better with advancing age into something that could benefit others.
Getting its start the following year, TB12 rolled out its own health protocol that stood apart from other programs. The regimen puts a premium on "pliability," making muscles more resilient and less susceptible to injury through movement, nutrition, mental fitness and hydration. It includes deep-tissue manipulation under the guidance of "body coaches," plenty of sleep and drinking loads of water, which may be the most challenging aspect.
Water consumption is centered around a daunting formula: Divide your body weight in a half and drink that many ounces of water a day. Thus, a 160-pound person would need to drink a minimum of 80 ounces of water over the course of a day — 2.5 quarts.
Then there’s the challenge of following Brady's "game day" diet, filling your plate with 80% plant-based veggies and grains and 20% lean protein like salmon or organic chicken. And you’re not supposed to gorge. Rather, have the discipline to leave the table before you’re full.
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The good news? A couple of cups of coffee early in the day are OK and a few squares of dark chocolate, high in antioxidants, as a dinner dessert.
TB12 started with a single facility and two coaches. Besides its flagship in Foxboro, Massachusetts –on Patriot Place, naturally – it expanded to Tampa, Florida, and Boston, leaving plenty of potential for expansion. In New York City, it says it has coaches available at four sports club locations.
In addition, TB12 has a line of supplements and workout and massage equipment, including the $160 "vibrating pliability roller."
Gennaro credits Brady as having the kind of intensity and focus that helped golfing great Tiger Woods build his brands. The risk is whether Brady will spread himself too thin, given how he is already racking up advertising deals for various products in addition to his own stable of brands.
"One of the interesting elements of this is the duality of can he be a pitchman … while building his own business?" Gennaro asks.
Discipline, however, is one of Brady’s hallmarks, one that helps drive his value in the marketplace, said David Carter, an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business who has authored four books on sports business. As long as Brady is deliberative and smart about his business direction, "the sky is the limit."
Brady is sure to stand out in business with his fierce competitive spirit that he used unravel rivals in powering the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to championships.
"He will be in it to win it," Carter said. "He will not be one of those athletes licensing his name and being passively involved."
Besides the intensity that drove the creation of TB12, Brady also has his apparel line, simply called Brady, that he created with two partners. His wife, model Gisele Bündchen, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal last year as saying, "He loves clothes way more than I do."
As for his video venture, Brady gave it a name with a highly personal, underdog touch: 199 Productions, explaining in an Instagram post that it alludes to his having been picked 199th in the 2000 draft.
In choosing his business direction, Brady’s focus dovetails with his sports career. That contrasts with some other past quarterbacks who went into entirely different directions, like the Dallas Cowboys’ Roger Staubach, who founded a real estate advisory firm, or the Denver Broncos’ John Elway, who became a prominent auto dealer.
Brady created TB12 "from scratch and built it with partners," points out Jonathan Jensen, assistant professor for sports administration at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. They "are not just slapping their name on something."
It’s yet to be seen whether Brady, with all his drive and initiative, becomes a mogul like the NBA great Magic Johnson, whose myriad enterprises have included a stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers, or former MLB star Alex Rodriguez, whose A-Rod Corp. has investments in real estate and other ventures.
Brady said he is ready for the next chapter.
"I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention," he said in announcing his retirement.
Now we’ll see if he gets down to business.