Tony Romo may no longer be CBS’s top NFL analyst, but he’s likely still collecting a hefty share of the network’s money.
According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, Romo and CBS reached a financial settlement before Friday’s announcement that the two sides were parting ways, citing industry sources who weren’t authorized to discuss the private negotiations. Because the matter never went to court, Marchand reports, the former Dallas Cowboys signal-caller will likely be paid a good portion of the money remaining on his contract.
Romo signed a 10-year, $180 million deal with CBS in 2020, and he entered this season with roughly four years and $72 million left, worth about $18 million annually. Like nearly every major talent contract, Romo’s included a morals clause, which gives networks grounds to challenge a deal when a star can no longer represent the brand after a public embarrassment. Romo’s OWI arrest in Milwaukee in July, and the body camera footage that followed, handed CBS that opening, though using it to void the contract would have almost certainly meant a protracted legal fight.
Romo hadn’t sounded like someone ready to walk away. In his September statement, his first public comments since the arrest, he acknowledged an over-reliance on alcohol while weaning himself off pain medication, while saying he looked forward to returning to CBS “in time.” The statement did not appear to have been coordinated with the network, and CBS declined to comment, offering only its original leave announcement in response. By then, Puck’s John Ourand had already reported that executives across the industry considered Romo’s CBS tenure finished, and weeks later, he put the odds of Romo not returning at 95 percent. Noting that Romo earned $18 million a year, Ourand suggested CBS saw a chance to save money, but predicted it would come down to a negotiation over what figure it would take for Romo to leave without a fight.
By Friday, they had apparently reached that number.
CBS announced that it and Romo had mutually agreed to part ways, and that J.J. Watt would remain alongside Jim Nantz and Tracy Wolfson in the network’s top booth for the rest of the season. Romo, in a statement of his own, said he plans to take a break for the first time in his life and focus on his health and family before moving on to his next opportunity.
For CBS, the arrest offered an escape from a contract many around the network had reportedly come to resent. Romo landed his 10-year, $180 million deal in 2020 after ESPN made an aggressive push to lure him to Monday Night Football, forcing CBS to make him the highest-paid analyst in sports television to keep him. Fox’s Colin Cowherd has argued that CBS executives harbored resentment toward Romo dating back to those negotiations, and the frustration only grew as his on-air work regressed. Romo’s tendency to fill airtime with noises, tangents, and half-finished thoughts drew mounting criticism from viewers and prominent media voices alike, and in 2023, Marchand reported that CBS held what he described as an “intervention” with its lead analyst, with McManus visiting Romo at home and lead producer Jim Rikhoff reviewing game footage with him over dinner to push him to prepare better. The network disputed that characterization, though then-CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus later acknowledged he had given Romo feedback on how to improve. The concerns never fully went away, and as recently as January, Marchand questioned whether Romo was doing his homework, saying the trust and chemistry between Romo and Jim Nantz simply wasn’t there.
The exact figure of Romo’s settlement wasn’t disclosed, and it may never be. But given that CBS chose to negotiate rather than litigate, Romo won’t be leaving empty-handed.