We’re less than a week away from the NFL season opener, and we have no idea whether CBS will put analyst Tony Romo, the pride and joy of Eastern Illinois, back on the air.
A decision doesn’t figure to come anytime soon after Romo pleaded no contest Tuesday to a charge of operating while intoxicated and issued a statement in which he apologized and revealed his struggles with pain medication and alcohol.
“As I turn my attention to my health, my family and, in time, my return to CBS, I kindly ask for privacy during this period,” Romo said.
Romo’s return to CBS seems unlikely but not out of the question. The most likely outcome is a settlement that rids CBS of Romo’s albatross of a contract — reportedly $18 million per year with four years left — and removes the stain he has become on its image.
And not just because of his arrest and embarrassing body-camera footage.
CBS put Romo, who was stopped by police just up the road on Interstate 43 in Wisconsin, on leave and replaced him alongside Jim Nantz on its top crew with JJ Watt. The former star defensive end’s stock skyrocketed in his first season on the No. 2 team with Ian Eagle, and he very well could stay on the top team with another strong performance.
Romo hadn’t had one of those in years, perhaps not since his first contract — a modest three-year, roughly $9 million deal — during which he took the NFL broadcasting world by storm with predictive powers never seen before. Whether the obscene payday affected his work, we’ll never know, but Romo often appeared unprepared and at times unprofessional since then.
CBS’ silence on the matter speaks volumes. The network’s last public remarks – other than “No comment” – were Aug. 11, when CBS Sports president David Berson said he had no timeline for a decision on Romo’s future and explained why he put the ex-quarterback on indefinite leave.
“We had to consider the impact on our image and on our brand,” Berson told reporters at the network’s NFL media day. “That’s very important to us. Whether the games, marketing, PR, social, the focus should and needs to be on our presentation and not on any other factors.”
Good luck with that.
Meanwhile, Romo’s agents and attorneys will be hard at work trying to either save his job or his money. Romo is represented by the powerful Creative Artists Agency, specifically R.J. Gonser, who negotiated Romo’s monster deal with CBS.
An agent has three objectives in such a crisis: Keep the client employed (Romo hasn’t been fired), manage the publicity (his statement seeks sympathy) and if neither can be accomplished, negotiate as good of a settlement as possible.
CBS might have Romo’s contract in its favor to fire him for cause. Standard language explains that cause includes but isn’t limited to “gross misconduct,” “arrest for, charged with, indictment for, plea of guilty to, or conviction of, a felony or of a crime” and “conduct that brings employee or the company into public disrepute, contempt, scandal or ridicule.”
In his statement, Romo included that he pleaded “no contest to a civil offense for OWI in Wisconsin,” seemingly to address similar contract language. He didn’t commit a criminal offense, and as part of his plea, he had several citations dismissed.
And by expressing contrition and indicating he has a problem, Romo probably lowered the chances of CBS outright firing him. It could look heartless, no matter how bad Romo’s game analysis has been.
The question is: Does CBS think what Romo did was bad enough to cut ties, even if only for “public disrepute.” Fortunately, he didn’t hurt anyone. The network certainly could help Romo clean himself up and eventually put him with a lower broadcast crew, or even somewhere else in Paramount’s empire, allowing him to work his way back. But CBS has no obligation to stand by Romo in any way.
That would contrast with how NBC handled Al Michaels’ arrest for suspicion of drunk driving in April 2013. That September, Michaels was on the call for “Sunday Night Football.” The differences appear to be that Michaels was beloved and he wasn’t making $18 million a year.
Though CBS wants viewers to focus on the games, in the back of their mind, they’ll wonder what’s happening with Romo. For now, CBS and Romo are playing nicely. But eventually, negotiations will get hot and heavy. The network might point to its morals clause, saying Romo endangered the public and damaged CBS’ reputation. Romo then might threaten to sue.
It’ll happen in private, but it could make for great TV, probably even better than many of those games.
Remote patrol
Matt Vasgersian, Steve Stone and Justin Morneau will call the Twins-White Sox game for “Sunday Night Baseball,” which will air on NBCSN and Peacock. Ahmed Fareed will host the pregame show with Eric Hosmer, who also will be the “Inside the Pitch” analyst. First pitch is scheduled for 5:20 p.m.
For the conspiracy theorists in the audience, NBC’s lead crew, with former Sox voice Jason Benetti, always was scheduled to call Phillies-Braves at noon. Twins-Sox was flexed into “SNB” for Blue Jays-Royals. It marks the Sox’ first home game on “Sunday Night Baseball” with fans since June 29, 2008, against the Cubs.