CBS Sports has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with National Football League announcer Tony Romo that will make him the highest paid TV sports analyst in US history.
The deal with the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback who has gone on to become a popular broadcaster will pay him around $17m per season. The sum surpasses the roughly $14m figure, adjusted for inflation, that John Madden received toward the end of his legendary career. Over the course of his new CBS contract, Romo reportedly could earn a total of more than $100m.
The 39-year-old Romo, now set to receive nearly $1m for each game he calls during the course of an NFL season, was set to become a free agent later this month, and would have become one of the most coveted talents in US sports broadcasting. But CBS moved quickly to lock Romo down and keep him with the network.
Since beginning his on-air career in 2017 in a pairing with CBS’ top play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz, Romo has garnered widespread praise for his broadcasting abilities, particularly for his tendency to correctly predict upcoming plays.
Though Romo earned more than $127m during his Cowboys playing career, he surpassed his new CBS annual salary in just his final three seasons of a 14-year career on the field.
The CBS Sports-Romo agreement was first reported by the New York Post.
ESPN subsequently reported Romo gained a firm three-year contract commitment from CBS, with the deal potentially to expand to a full decade if CBS is able to retain NFL broadcast rights in the league’s upcoming set of media rights negotiations. The network’s current NFL rights extend through the 2022 season, which would cover the initial three years contemplated in Romo’s new deal.
CBS is slated to broadcast the upcoming Super Bowl LV in February 2021 from Tampa, Florida, with Romo and Nantz to be the lead broadcast talent.