Terry Bradshaw an unlikely Las Vegas Raiders fan
Terry Bradshaw is a Las Vegas Raiders fan. So is his wife, Tammy. This is no idle claim. The Bradshaws were on the cusp — the cusp, I tell you! — of becoming part of Raider Nation.
“I almost bought season tickets this year because my wife loves Vegas,” Bradshaw said during a video interview last week. “Outside of the Chiefs, she really likes the Raiders. So I said, ‘Well, we’ll get season tickets.’”
Bradshaw then checked the family finances.
“We couldn’t afford it,” says Bradshaw, who owns and lives on an 800-acre ranch in Oklahoma. “We would have had to sell a cow, and a couple of goats.”
We would surmise that team owner Mark Davis has no plans for a goat habitat at Allegiant Stadium.
Bradshaw nonetheless heaped praise on the franchise and its new stadium during a half-hour chat that lined up with the premiere of “The Bradshaw Bunch” on E! Entertainment.
The reality show, or “docu-series,” as the network calls it, premiered Thursday night. With 10 shows banked, the series focuses on the affable Terry; the wife who keeps sensible order, Tammy; the couple’s daughters Rachel and Erin Bradshaw, and Lacey Hester; and grandkids Jeb and Zuri.
If you are interested in a spirited debate of cosmetic surgery, or the ranch game “Chase The Chicken” or Bradshaw sporting a pair of Daisy Dukes, the show is for you.
“It’s silly,” Bradshaw says. “It’s something for my family to after God calls me home, a home movie that millions of people can watch. I have no problem letting the world know what a goofball or idiot I can be.”
Bradshaw also maintains a direct professional connection to Las Vegas through his “Terry Bradshaw Show” at Luxor’s Atrium Showroom. He announced in January plans for an extended residency to start in March. The pandemic shutdown sidelined the production, which was to cover 54 shows through the fall.
“The show is shut down for the year,” Bradshaw says. “When Vegas opens up, we’ll open up.”
Bradshaw has otherwise been tracking the Raiders’ move and development of Allegiant Stadium in his role as studio co-host of “Fox NFL Sunday.”
During the network’s coverage of Week 1, Bradshaw turned to co-host and former Raiders great Howie Long during a commercial break to rave about the facility.
“I told Howie, ‘The most beautiful stadium in the league, to me, is that stadium in Las Vegas,’” Bradshaw says. “That thing is friggin’ gorgeous. Al Davis would absolutely be so in love with their move to Vegas and that new stadium.
“It’s a good move by the NFL, and it’s a good move by the Raiders to go there.”
Bradshaw threw support behind Raiders QB Derek Carr, at the center off off-season speculation that the team might opt to bring Tom Brady to ring in its first season in Las Vegas.
“It kind of put a burr under (Carr’s) saddle,” Bradshaw says. “He said, ‘I’m the real deal, I’m the quarterback and I can make this happen.’ I like that cocky attitude and that nastiness. Quarterbacks have to be nasty. You can’t go out there with a halo over your helmet. You have to go out there with horns sticking out. It’s a tough sport.”
The four-time Super Bowl champ butted helmets with the Oakland Raiders throughout his Steelers career. He says the franchise should maintain the rivalries it has forged over generations, many dating to their days in the AFL.
“They are still in the AFC West, they are still the Raiders, they just moved (cities),” Bradshaw says. “The rivalries will carry on when they start beating and dominate the Kansas City, when they dominate the Chargers, the Denver Broncos. When they start upsetting teams like Baltimore and the Dallas Cowboys. When that happens, the Raiders name itself is elevated, and Jon Gruden has time to make this happen.”
Bradshaw plans to weave his proximity to the Raiders stadium — and his Las Vegas production — into his TV show. Producers actually planned to stage much of season one of “The Bradshaw Bunch” at Luxor. Rachel is a talented country singer and was to be showcased onstage.
The grand idea was to put Bradshaw onstage regularly, and on every Sunday of the NFL season, with football fans watching him on Fox and then wading into Atrium Showroom. The NFL legend had anticipated a tide of fans to make it over from Allegiant Stadium after Raiders home games.
“I thought of the Sunday night show, wow, I’m going to sell out my 300 seats at the Luxor. Whoo-hoo!” Bradshaw says. “Can’t you just see everybody? They’ll go to the game and then they can see Terry Bradshaw at Luxor, oh yeah. This is a natural.”
Until then, Bradshaw is keeping his brand in the public forum with his Fox sports gig and his TV series. During the shutdown he recorded the single “Quarantine Crazy,” developed such offshoot projects as Bradshaw Bourbon and the clothing line Fat Boy Britches.
The jeans are designed for guys of a certain weight, even though the man himself has committed to losing 42 pounds so he can dip to 198 (he played at 215). Maybe skinny jeans are in his future, too.
Enjoying these myriad projects, the 72-year-old Bradshaw is just having a ball with y’all. He is asked about how much longer he will be on the Fox NFL broadcast team.
“Two more years, maybe? Two years,” the four-time Super Bowl champ says, working out the math. “Then I’m going to sign three-year extension for $160 million!”
He could certainly afford Raiders tickets, if that were the case. But Bradshaw just laughs, showing that the old QB can still throw the bomb.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
