KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – JANUARY 20: TV personality and former NFL player Tony Romo walks through the tunnel before the AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots at Arrowhead Stadium on January 20, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
CBS and Tony Romo reportedly had an “intervention” last year as they tried to speak with him about improving his performance, according to a report.
After retiring from football in 2017, the former Dallas Cowboys’ star quarterback signed a deal with CBS to take over as the new analyst on the network’s top NFL commentary team. Romo replaced another ex-NFL quarterback in Phil Simms to work alongside Jim Nantz, CBS’ longtime No. 1 play-by-play voice.
On the latest episode of “The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast“ (h/t Mike McDaniel of Sports Illustrated), Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that CBS met with Romo and spoke to him about needing to study more amid growing backlash over his performances on the air. According to Marchand, the intervention did not go well:
“Tony Romo needs to study more. He needs to be better prepared. As you move away from the sidelines, you need to do more work. I know CBS is aware of this. They tried an intervention last offseason. They knew, they anticipated this. That’s a credit to them, the people in charge there. But it has not gotten better…
There was the narrative out of CBS when Romo was getting all the publicity. You heard from Nantz’s side and people from CBS that Nantz was the one who created Romo. So the issue now is, why isn’t Nantz helping Romo get to this next level?”
In 2020, Romo signed a lucrative contract extension with CBS Sports that pays him around $17 million per season. The market for big-named NFL analysts has grown rapidly ever since, as Troy Aikman signed with ESPN for about $90 million over five years.
Legendary quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement on Wednesday. He will next join the FOX Sports’ broadcast booth and begin a $375 million contract.
At the end of the day, no sports journalist, analyst or reporter is going to please everybody. Romo is going to have his fair share of defenders and supporters but also a plethora of naysayers. That’s just part of being in the business.
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Do CBS executives eventually decide that they want to move on from Romo as soon as possible? Only time will tell.
