'Creepy': NFL icon's 'crass' Gisele Bundchen remark causes a storm

NFL legend Tony Romo has landed himself at the centre of an ugly storm after what was intended to be a throw-away comment about Tom Brady and his supermodel wife, Gisele Bundchen.

The Dallas Cowboys great was calling the action on CBS when Brady became the first player in the history of the sport to throw his 600th NFL touchdown, during the Tampa Bay Bucaneers' 38-3 win over the Chicago Bears.

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Brady became the first NFL player to reach the milestone when he connected with Mike Evans on a 9-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter of the Bucs’ victory.

Seemingly unaware of the importance of the catch he just made, Evans celebrated the touchdown by seeking out a Bucs fan in the crowd and handing over the insanely valuable piece of memorabilia.

Evans was later captured on the sideline realising what he’d done by giving the ball up - which experts believe could fetch in excess of $US500,000 if it went to auction.

A Tampa Bay official was then seen negotiating with the fan to retrieve the ball on behalf of Brady, when Romo decided to jokingly narrate the presumed negotiation.

"A date with Gisele. A date with Gisele and I'm in," Romo says, pretending to be the fan.

"OK, Tom will do it. One time, you got it," Romo continues, now voicing the Bucs official.

Romo's joke caused uproar on social media, where viewers slammed the commentator for suggesting that Gisele was an object that Brady would willingly trade for a football.

Tony Romo comments condemned by viewers

“Tony Romo suggesting Brady trade a date with his wife for his 600th TD ball is just weird/borderline creepy. Dude is a good broadcaster but so awkward sometimes,” one person tweeted.

Another fan wrote: "I don’t think what Romo said was funny. It was tasteless. But that’s just me".

“Why do we need to listen to @tonyromo fantasize about trading a football for ‘a day with Giselle’? What does Mr. Romo presume would happen with Gisele during that day she has been traded like property for a football?” one Twitter user asked.

Yahoo Sports US columnist Shalise Manza Young wrote a scathing article on the topic in which she claimed Gisele had been "reduced to a piece of property" by Romo.

"To be clear, Bündchen's achievements aren't the reason why it was offensive. Every woman, no matter her net worth or amount of fame, has agency and is not her significant other's chattel, no matter how many Super Bowls he has won," she wrote.

"It was all so unseemly and crude, the implication that Brady owns his wife and would offer her up in such a way."

Debate over the incident has proven particularly divisive on social media, with many arguing it was simply a joke and that the blowback on Romo has been over-the-top.

Fan reluctantly gives ball back to Tom Brady

It was later revealed the Bucs fan who returned the ball was Byron Kennedy, a 29-year-old resident doctor of internal medicine at the Largo Medical Center.

Kennedy said he twice refused to hand over the ball to the Bucs team official, before ultimately giving in.

“Giving it up was tough, the trainer came over and asked for it, so what am I going to do? Say no to Tom Brady?,” Kennedy said.

“I didn’t really need the ball. It was cool that I got to hold it and take pictures with it and all that sort of stuff and then Tom Brady wanted it, so I gave it back.”

Brady also expressed gratitude to Kennedy for returning the ball and reportedly organised for the fan to be rewarded in bitcoin.

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