HEADLINE

Reports: CBS keeps Romo for $17M annually

Field Level Media

February 29, 2020 at 2:17 am.

CBS has agreed to a historic long-term deal with color analyst Tony Romo worth about $17 million annually, according to multiple reports on Friday evening.

Jim Nantz, Romo’s play-by-play partner at CBS, acknowledged the agreement, telling The Athletic, “I am ecstatic times 10.”

The exact length of the deal has not been reported, but the New York Post reports it runs “significantly more than five years.” That would be well beyond the end of CBS’s current agreement with the NFL, which runs through 2022.

The highest annual salary for a broadcaster before Romo’s new deal was believed to be $8 million for John Madden in the early 2000s.

According to the Post, CBS had reason to believe that ESPN would bid at least $20 million per year for Romo, who was able to become a broadcasting free agent in March.

The Post also reported that ESPN, with Romo no longer an option, will try to reshape its Monday Night Football booth by making another pitch to Peyton Manning, who has thus far resisted overtures to go into broadcasting.

Romo, 39, joined CBS after retiring from the Dallas Cowboys in April of 2017, immediately teaming with Nantz and drawing praise for his ability to predict plays before they happen.

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