Media
“Had CBS truly wanted him back, he would be.”
Tony Romo (left) calls an NFL broadcast for CBS with partner Jim Nantz (right) in the booth. AP Photo/Adrian Kraus
October 3, 2026 | 5:45 PM
3 minutes to read
When Tony Romo, fresh off the field after a 13-year run as a Cowboys quarterback, joined CBS’s top NFL broadcast team in fall 2017, he made the new gig seem effortless.
Nine years and a stunning fall from grace later, it turns out that effort — or a lack of it — was a significant part of his downfall.
CBS officially “parted ways” with Romo, 46, on Friday, a little more than a month after he was put on indefinite leave following his July 23 arrest in Milwaukee for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
The network announced the decision in a 73-word statement, which might seem terse if not for the one-sentence statement it issued upon putting him on leave in late July: “Tony Romo is on leave from his role at CBS Sports until further notice.”
Romo indicated in a September social media post that he looked forward to returning to CBS and that he had doctors helping him “make the necessary changes” for his well-being.
Had CBS truly wanted him back, he would be — maybe not soon, maybe not even this year, but eventually. Instead, a buyout was negotiated, and the reasons are clear to anyone who has heard him in the booth the last few years.
He was not as prepared or focused as he was in his early days. And the 10-year, $180 million contract he signed in February 2020 had become an albatross for the network based on the diminishing returns they were getting on game day from Romo.
The buyout allows it to be called a “mutual decision.” But make no mistake: this was solely a decision by CBS Sports chairman David Berson and the network.
It remains easy now, nine years later, to remember what a sensation Romo was in early days alongside Jim Nantz in the booth.
A Patriots-Saints matchup in Week 2 of the 2017 season was the second regular-season game Romo ever called. He validated every early accolade. He predicted a Drew Brees touchdown to unheralded receiver Brandon Coleman, was ahead of the referees in deciphering multiple confusing flags, and noted near the game’s end that the Patriots were still blitzing while safely ahead just to mess with future opponents’ scouting reports.
He was charming and informative, perhaps the best company we’ve had in the broadcast booth since John Madden’s prime.
But Romo’s preparation clearly slipped over the years, to the point that CBS management called him in after the 2022 season to inform him that he needed to get his act together. Romo still had his moments, but too often he acted as if his charm would cover up for a lack of preparation, which in turn caused his charm to wane.
So what happens now? J.J. Watt, who slid into the top role during Romo’s leave, gets a full-season audition to be CBS’s permanent No. 1 guy.
There is some potential flux in some of other networks’ top booths.
Greg Olsen, usurped in 2024 by Tom Brady in Fox Sports’ No. 1 role, can opt out of his contract if another No. 1 job opens up. Troy Aikman is no sure thing to return to ESPN’s booth after this season. (Please, Disney, for the love of Mickey Mouse, do not shoehorn that ubiquitous sentient monster truck Pat McAfee into that role, too.)
Romo will land somewhere, if that’s what he wants. Before he signed on with CBS, Fox pursued him to pair with Kevin Burkhardt in its No. 2 booth. If Olsen departs for CBS, Fox would be a logical fit for Romo.
But whenever his comeback happens, it almost certainly won’t be in a No. 1 booth right away. With the job no longer effortless for him, he first must prove he’s willing to put in the necessary effort to find some of the old magic.
. . .
Boston sports radio legend Glenn Ordway launched a new podcast in September, titled “The Big O’” podcast. The first half dozen episodes have been entertaining in a still-familiar way, especially if you’re interested in reliving (and, in some cases, relitigating) WEEI’s heyday, as well as some drama and debacles that followed those best of times.
Ordway remains an excellent interviewer and storyteller. Often, his stories even qualify as non-fiction. But, amusingly, not all of them.
During an episode in conversation with Kirk Minihane, Ordway claimed he figured out my source when I broke the story in February 2013 that WEEI’s parent company Entercom was firing him. Ordway said my source was Tim Murphy, who had multiple management titles with WEEI and Entercom during his time there.
Two things: It’s sources, plural. There’s no way I’d run — or be allowed by the sports editor to run — a story of that magnitude with just one source. Also, Murphy, who was about as forthcoming as an Easter Island stone, was not among them.
Keep looking, Glenn. Maybe you’ll connect the dots someday. But first you’d have to find one.
Chad Finn
Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.
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