AWFUL ANNOUNCING: Stephen A. Smith and Tom Brady to have ‘no-holds barred exchange’ at Fanatics Fest NYC

The upcoming Fanatics Fest NYC event continues to announce more names, and those now include two of sports media’s top-paid and top-discussed figures. Those would be ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith and new NFL on Fox analyst Tom Brady. And they’ll be teaming up for an Aug. 16 discussion at the event. Here’s more on that from a release:

Two of the biggest names in sports are set to collide at Fanatics Fest NYC on Friday, August 16th as the festival’s main stage will host “True Grit with Tom Brady hosted by Stephen A. Smith,” an exclusive discussion featuring the NFL’s most decorated quarterback and one of sports media’s most influential voices.

It’s interesting to see Brady and Smith involved in this. They’re certainly both massive sports stars, and they’re certainly used to appearing in front of an audience, whether on the field or at Fox upfronts (Brady) or with countless ESPN platforms and live shows (Smith). But a panel together is unusual, especially with them normally working for competing media companies. And it’s notable to see this coming shortly before Brady’s much-discussed first season in the top NFL on Fox booth (which will start with a Cowboys-Browns game on Sept. 8)…