Romo staying at CBS for $100-plus million

glennhoffmania

meat puppet
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 25, 2005
8,411,599
NY
17m for Romo? That's completely insane. Maybe they could find decent broadcasters for reasonable salaries and not have a commercial every five minutes.
 

RedOctober3829

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
55,299
deep inside Guido territory
"Tony Romo has agreed to the largest sports analyst contract in TV history, a deal to remain at CBS which will prevent him from reaching the free-agent market, where ESPN was poised to aggressively bid for him, The Post has learned.

The contract will pay Romo around $17 million per season, which is more than the previous NFL high of $8 million per year John Madden received more than two decades ago. Even when adjusted for inflation — which would make Madden’s number $14 million — Romo still is the highest paid ever.
The deal is a long-term contract, with sources saying it is for significantly more than five years. This means the total value for Romo’s contract will surpass $100 million.

CBS was motivated this week by Disney’s ability to start bidding on Romo in March, when he could have been eligible for free agency. CBS thought that Disney — which hoped to use Romo as a carrot as it goes after a Super Bowl in the next round of negotiations — would bid $20 million per year. ESPN officials disputed that, saying they would not have even gotten close to that number."

"In Romo’s rookie deal, CBS did have a card to play that could prevent have prevented him from becoming an unrestricted free agent.
Per the terms of Romo’s original contract, he had to tell CBS what it would take for him to agree to a contract prior to him being allowed to go on the open market, sources said. CBS was willing to meet the around $17 million per year and $100-plus milion figure that blocked out ESPN from even getting a chance."

https://nypost.com/2020/02/28/nfl-analyst-tony-romo-agrees-to-17m-per-year-to-stay-at-cbs/
 

Buck Showalter

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 26, 2002
6,652
Citifield - Queens, NY

Foxy42

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 1, 2002
3,654
nyc
I have never turned on a game because of the announcers. I have enjoyed a game more or less because of an announcer, but that’s. It worth a network paying a ton of money for.
 

the1andonly3003

New Member
Jul 15, 2005
4,371
Chicago
I feel bad for analyst #4-5 on the depth chart, wonder if the Browns get solo announcers for CBS games and cut back on the lower tier broadcasts
 

luckiestman

Son of the Harpy
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
32,620
$1M a game for 3 hours on a highly watched show. It’s high but I respect it. ESPN gives me shit I have to mute.
 

nattysez

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 30, 2010
8,435
I always assume there are smart people behind decisions like this, but the older I get the more I realize that (1) there are a lot of really dumb people in prominent positions in most businesses and (2) marketing people are mostly full of crap and are very good at convincing executives of the need to do things "for marketing purposes."

This is just throwing money away. It's silly.
 

Marciano490

Urological Expert
SoSH Member
Nov 4, 2007
62,312
Peyton Manning must be so happy now.

This seems really dumb long-term, though. Now they’re going to have to get into bidding wars for halfway decent pbp guys to fill out all their teams for every sport.
 

The Social Chair

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 17, 2010
6,082
CBS is going to do whatever it can to be in a position of strength to keep their NFL rights. Even something minor like this.
 

Hoya81

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 3, 2010
8,457
There’s a persistent rumor that ABC is going to make a very hard push for either CBS’ AFC rights or the Sunday Night Football package when the rights come up. Disney doesn’t like the high price and mostly subpar games of MNF (and being left out of the SB rotation) and may be willing to break the bank to get it. The Romo deal indicates that CBS is not going quietly and is prepared to battle it out.
 

NortheasternPJ

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 16, 2004
19,271
Yep. I wouldn’t shut off a game I really care about but I would turn off a random game.

For example, the Brees record game Last year. Joe Tess is the worst.
Romo was better last year but I’d usually put on the radio audio if possible after a quarter. I can’t say I’ve done that often for another color person. He’s just so annoying.
 

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
Moderator
SoSH Member
Maybe it's just me --- but I think CBS looks ridiculous here.

I'm watching NFL Games with or without Tony Romo behind the microphone.

Is he an excellent analyst? Yeah.

Is he increasing viewership? No chance.

CBS obviously has money to burn here.....otherwise, the offer wouldn't have been close to this.
Looks that way to me too, but I assume CBS didn’t make a commitment of this magnitude lightly. They must have evidence that a top-notch commentator keeps casual fans engaged who would change the channel if a lesser commentator were calling the game. Considering how much CBS is paying in rights fees, Romo wouldn’t have to move the needle much to earn his money.