Tony Romo Signs Historic $17 Million Deal With CBS to Call NFL Games

Previous reports that ESPN was preparing to make former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo the highest-paid sportscaster in NFL history appear to be accurate — and understated.

According to Andrew Marchand of The New York Post, CBS is going to pay Romo around $17 million a year to stay with the network and call football games alongside Jim Nantz.

That means Romo will make a little more than $1 million per game, more than he ever made on a per-game basis as a quarterback.

The long-term contract prevents Romo from reaching the free-agent market, where ESPN was “poised to aggressively bid for him,” The Post reports. It also will prevent ESPN — or any other network — from getting a shot at him for quite some time as sources told The Post Romo’s new deal is for “significantly more than five years.” Given the length, the total value for Romo’s contract is north of $100 million.

During the early 1990s, John Madden made $8 million a year to provide analysis on NFL games. Former Dallas Cowboys QB Troy Aikman, Fox’s top NFL game analyst, makes around $7.5 million per year.

Had Romo left CBS for ESPN, he could have replaced Booger McFarland as the analyst in the MNF booth or assumed an even larger role if ESPN’s parent company Disney was able to acquire a Sunday afternoon game package during the next round of NFL TV negotiations in 2020-2021.

Now that ESPN has missed out on Romo, the network could try to woo Peyton Manning (again) or consider one of its top college football analysts as a replacement for McFarland.

Were they to retire, current NFL players Greg Olsen, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers and Larry Fitzgerald would all be potential options for the MNF booth.

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