Fontainebleau’s Hall of Excellence to open as Tom Brady’s latest local sports foray

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Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

Tom Brady is continuing to build his post-playing career business empire in Las Vegas.

Having already bought ownership stakes in the Las Vegas Raiders and Las Vegas Aces, the 48-year-old, seven-time Super Bowl winning quarterback unveiled his latest local project Wednesday morning at Fontainebleau Las Vegas — the Hall of Excellence.

Brady, in partnership with longtime sportscaster Jim Gray and his wife Frann Gray, assembled a prized collection of sports memorabilia to share ranging from Michael Jordan’s first worn pair of Air Jordans to one of Babe Ruth’s baseball bats.  

“We had these great artifacts that a lot of times will sit in people’s closets for nobody to see but we collect them and keep them and they’re meaningful to us but the reality is, they should be on display,” Brady said. “They’re for people to come and see and witness and say ‘Maybe one day that will be me.’ … In this amazing venue that’s filled with so many unique visitors every year, I think there’s no greater destination in the world for this Smithsonian of sports artifacts.”

The museum opens to the public at 10 a.m. Friday with tickets costing $35 for general admission, $30 for Nevada residents and $25 for children.

The space might only be slightly larger than the closets Brady mentioned multiple times throughout his speech, but its jampacked with a ton of trophies, rings, gear and more.

It would be easy to spend a couple hours at the exhibit, especially with its immersive setup.

Tours are technically self-guided but guests are given a phone where they can choose to listen to actor Morgan Freeman walk them through the hall. All items can also be scanned for more information with voiceovers from the likes of Brady himself, Oprah Winfrey, Bob Costas, Jim Nantz and Snoop Dogg.

“It didn’t hurt that every one of those calls I made, I said, ‘You know, Tom really wants you to do this,’” Jim Gray joked.

The 65-year-old noted that the idea for a museum of this sort had been, “brewing for a long, long time,” even before he first met and interviewed Brady ahead of the quarterback’s initial Super Bowl appearance in 2002.

Fontainebleau was a natural fit given Brady’s relationship with Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Soffer, who said the quarterback was his neighbor during the news conference.

Brady went on to give a 13-minute speech where he touched on what many of the personal items he put in the museum meant to him. They include his handwritten No. 199 overall 2000 NFL Draft card and all seven of his Super Bowl rings.

He appeared to fight back tears on a couple occasions, most notably when he referenced his parents, Tom Brady Sr. and Galynn Brady, whom attended the event.

His words were impassioned, giving a strong impression that the Hall of Excellence is not a vanity project or something he merely let his name to but a passion that he plans to build for years to come.

“I hope I get to meet a lot more people because people are reaching out to me all the time,” Brady said. “Now they want to give Jim more stuff. Jeff is going to need to build another wing, which I’m sure he’s excited about. But I hope everyone enjoys the museum and I hope all the children that walk through this museum realize that even if they don’t start playing their sport until they’re 13 or 14 because their mom wouldn’t let them — I see you mom back there now, I’m glad you let me play — (they can do it.)”

Brady did not take questions from reporters or grant any one-on-one interviews during what his first time speaking publicly since his Las Vegas business interests began two years ago with the Aces.

He’s been involved in the decision-making of the Raiders’ offseason and visited their Henderson headquarters on multiple occasions since being approved as a minority owner last October but has avoided turning into a forward-facing part of the organization.

The choice is largely believed to be based around not violating the conflict-of-interest terms he agreed to in order to hold on to his job as Fox’s lead NFL analyst on a 10-year, $375 million contract.

“We have (Brady’s) name on the front of this building and we are going to do everything always to uphold and enhance the gold standard you have established,” Gray said to Brady in the news conference.

The Hall feels at home in Las Vegas given a preponderance of local items.

The first trophy displayed at the start of the tour is the one the Aces claimed as back-to-back WNBA champions in 2022. The team’s championship ring and the jersey superstar A’ja Wilson wore to set the league’s single season scoring record can also be found in a separate section.

There’s also a music exhibit, largely with Elvis Presley mementos including the suit he wore when first visiting the then under-construction International Hotel and VIP invitations from his first show there.   

The Raiders and the UFC are among the other Las Vegas-based entities with memorabilia on display at the museum. There’s also a Vegas Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup championship ring, which should be a highlight for local sports fans.

Brady and Las Vegas might have seemed like an odd pairing after he officially retired from the NFL in 2022, especially given his reputation as one of the Raiders’ greatest enemies after the “Tuck Rule” game two decades before.

But Las Vegas’ ever-expanding status as a sports city is now better off with his presence, which is starting to feel permanent.         

“(My draft card) sits in (the Hall) and I look at it next to kind of the end of my career where there are some really cool jerseys where I broke some lifelong records, one for passing yards, in my career,” Brady said. “That was 23 years in between the day I was drafted and when that jersey was worn. It’s quite a journey.”

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