Tom Brady returns for Fox's comedic spots promoting the 2026 NFL season. FOX
Fox Sports’ 2026 NFL marketing campaign rolls out on Friday, with **Tom Brady** and **Michael Strahan** featured in humorous promos. The first two spots, “Break Room” and “Barb,” debut Friday and will be featured on Fox, including the network’s coverage around the Michigan-Oklahoma game on Saturday. The Fox One service and Fox Sports social platforms will also show the spots. Two additional spots debut in the coming weeks.
For fans, they’ll also see the return of characters “Barb,” “Cornell” and “Gerry.”
“It’s pretty much a continuation. Last year we did a campaign for NFL on Fox featuring Tom and we had three spots and each spot kind of took a look at the notion that, ‘hey, if a regular person had Tom’s incredible football brain, they might not be able to handle that much football knowledge.’ That was kind of the premise and a comedic premise,” **Robert Gottlieb**, President/Marketing at Fox Sports, told SBJ. “The three characters who we played with last year, we brought them back into this campaign this year with a slight tweak, which is, ‘OK, they managed to wrangle Tom’s immense football brain, but when you add Michael’s to it, it breaks them once again.”
**Jeff Kling**, Chief Creative Officer at L.A.-based ad agency Das Favorite, created the spot, alongside director **Randy Krallman** of Smuggler.