Tony Romo Will Reportedly Be Offered Record-Breaking Contract To Join 'Monday Night Football'
Tony Romo signed on to be an analyst for CBS following his retirement from the Dallas Cowboys in 2016, and since then he's earned rave reviews for his broadcasting abilities. He's now set to become a free agent with his contract expiring, and he's going to be in very high demand.
One network looking to make him an offer is ESPN, which owns the rights to "Monday Night Football" and reportedly wants him to join their team.
"If signed by ESPN, Romo could succeed Booger McFarland as the analyst on Monday Night Football,'" Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports writes. "Romo could also potentially quarterback ESPN’s NFL game coverage if parent Disney acquires a Sunday afternoon game package from rival Fox Sports, CBS Sports, and NBC Sports during the next round of NFL TV negotiations in 2020-2021."
ESPN is reportedly going to offer him between $10-14 million, which is more than he earned annually as an NFL quarterback.
Some think CBS will do whatever it takes to retain Romo and bring him back to their network.
"They have to keep him," former Fox executive Patrick Cakes said to Front Office Sports who is now a media consultant. "I mean what’s $14 million, or whatever, a year to have an elite level talent to carry the brand flag for your $2 billion annual investment in NFL games? If you're going to invest the house in the NFL, then the millions that you pay to keep a unique generational talent like Romo in-house is just marketing. As to who could replace him, he’s not replaceable. So you just do the best you can and probably pivot to the former, or soon to be former, NFL player that your production team thinks has the most upside potential AND is a good fit with (Jim) Nantz."
Wikipedia has more details on his young, but very successful, broadcasting career so far:
Once the 2017 NFL season got underway, Romo received critical praise for his work as a recent ex-player, most notably for his ability to predict offensive plays and read defensive formations from the booth, and "adding an enthusiasm that had been lacking with Simms."
The New Yorker has called him a "genius of football commentary." Romo has received praise from other prominent sports commentators, including Bob Costas and Dick Vitale.
Romo's season isn't over yet. He'll be in the booth this Sunday to call the AFC Championship game between the Chiefs and Titans.
