Tom Brady spotted working out in Tampa park despite COVID-19 closures, mayor says

Parks in Tampa, Florida closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and city officials aren't making any exceptions — not even for future Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

According to Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, new Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady was spotted working out in a public park despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Castor shared the story in a livestreamed joint press conference with St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman about her administration's response to the virus.

"Now, I always tell people, I'm not one to gossip so you didn't hear this from me," Castor said. Our parks are closed down; and so a lot of our parks staff they patrol around just to make sure that people aren't doing contact sports and things like that, and saw an individual working out in one of our downtown parks. And she went over to tell him that it was closed and it was Tom Brady. And he's been sighted!"

The City of Tampa's official Twitter account tagged Brady in a tweet about the incident.

"Sorry @TomBrady ! Our @tampaparksrec team can't wait to welcome you and our entire community back with even bigger smiles -- until then, stay safe and stay home as much as you can to help flatten the curve," the tweet said.

While some news outlets reported that Brady had receive a citation, the city later clarified that Castor meant that Brady had been "sighted" in a park, not "cited."

Brady signed with the Buccaneers last month after spending 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and winning six Super Bowls. According to NBC News, Brady recently rented a home from former Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter in the Tampa area.

Across Hillsborough County — the county that encompasses Tampa — there have been 973 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 19 deaths.