Burlington, Wisconsin native, Tony Romo, found out his nine-year run as the lead NFL analyst at CBS Sports is over. The network and the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback said Friday they have mutually agreed to part ways a little more than two months after his arrest on a Milwaukee freeway following a hometown golf tournament.
CBS Sports said in a statement that it thanked Romo “for his contributions over the past nine years” and wished him well. J.J. Watt, who stepped into the booth after Romo was placed on leave, will stay with the play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson for the rest of the season. The rest of the CBS staff remains unchanged.
Romo, 46, said he was proud of the work and planned to step away from broadcasting for a while.
“I’m proud of what I accomplished at CBS Sports over the last nine years. I approached my role as a game analyst the way I’ve approached everything in my life — with a desire to win and be the best that I can be,” he said. “I’m going to use this time to take a break, something I’ve never done before, and focus on my health and my family before moving on to my next opportunity. I am grateful for my time with CBS Sports and for the continued support of my family and friends, as well as the NFL community and fans.”
Tony Romo returns to Wisconsin for the Amateur Golf Championship
The split occurred two months after the incident that took place the evening of July 23. Romo, who grew up about 35 miles from Milwaukee, had spent the week in the 125th Wisconsin Amateur Championship at West Bend Country Club. The tournament ran July 20–23. He played all four days and finished tied for 73rd, far behind the winner. According to Golfweek, Romo took the time to show a young fan some football drills.
That evening he was driving south on Interstate 43. Milwaukee County sheriff’s deputies stopped him on the high-rise bridge around 6:15 p.m. after he was seen passing vehicles in a gore area, the triangular stretch that separates through traffic from an on-ramp. An arrest report obtained by The Athletic said he performed poorly on the field sobriety tests. Deputies also reported an open bottle of an alcoholic beverage in the passenger side of his black Jeep.
Body-camera footage released later showed Romo telling a deputy he was coming from a golf course and headed “to visit grandma and grandpa.” He said he had not been drinking, asked repeatedly to call a lawyer before stepping out, and declined a preliminary breath test, telling the officer that lawyers advise against it.
During the field tests he stretched and said his two previous back surgeries made bending difficult. A deputy cited red, glassy eyes and the odor of alcohol. He was taken into custody, booked around 9:45 p.m., and released around 11 p.m.
Documents cited by The Athletic put his blood-alcohol concentration at 0.15, nearly twice Wisconsin’s 0.08 legal limit. He was cited for first-offense operating while intoxicated, possessing open intoxicants in a motor vehicle, unsafe passing on the right, and refusing a test.
On Sept. 1 he pleaded no contest to the OWI citation, a civil offense for a first violation in Wisconsin. The other three citations were dismissed. Milwaukee County court records show his driving privileges were revoked for six months. He was ordered to pay a $784 fine, complete an alcohol assessment, and install an ignition interlock device on any vehicle he owns, operates, or registers for at least a year.
In an Instagram statement that day he wrote that he was “leaning on everything football taught me” and that he owned the “failure” completely. He tied his alcohol consumption to the back surgeries that ended his playing career earlier than he expected, constant pain, a dependence on pain medication, and what he called an “over-reliance on alcohol” after he tried to get off those medications.
“None of this is an excuse,” he wrote. “These are my failures and I take responsibility for them.” He said he was turning his attention to his health, his family, and, in time, a return to CBS.
However, that return will not happen. CBS put him on leave “until further notice” on July 31, eight days after the arrest, and moved J.J. Watt (Pewaukee, Wisconsin native) into the spot so the booth would be set before the regular season. Watt, the former Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals defensive end, had been filling in on an interim basis.
CBS Sports president David Berson said in August there was no timeline for a decision. Friday’s announcement made the leave permanent.
Romo arrived at CBS in 2017, right after he retired, and immediately replaced Phil Simms next to Nantz in the booth. An undrafted free agent out of Eastern Illinois in 2003, he became the Cowboys’ starter in 2006 and made four Pro Bowls. His entire 13-year career was spent in Dallas.
Romo’s statement did not name a next employer. He said he intends to take the break first.
