Tony Romo joined CBS in 2017 and was reportedly an instant hit due to his play predictions. But in 2020, Romo used interest from rival network ESPN to secure a massive 10-year, $180 million extension from CBS. Now, according to Colin Cowherd, that deal resulted in internal resentment from the network against the former Cowboys QB.

“When you go into contract negotiations, there was a moment in time that Tony Romo had tremendous leverage over CBS,” Cowherd said on the House of Strauss podcast. “And he squeezed them for every nickel. Even if you have leverage, it will create resentment somewhere upstairs. And I’ve always thought with the CBS execs, they don’t defend him quite as quickly. Or, when this recent story came out, reportedly, for the first two days nobody from CBS contacted him. That’s what I heard from somebody who would know.

“And I thought, is there resentment upstairs? Because he had them. He had them dead to rights, and he got every penny he wanted. It made executives uncomfortable. There were a lot of questions. They had to take calls. There’s a very well-documented trip by Sean McManus down to Dallas to talk to Romo. I find the Tony Romo dynamic with CBS fascinating.”

Colin Cowherd’s analysis comes after the latest update around Tony Romo’s employment at CBS. The chain reaction began with Romo’s arrest for OWI. On July 23, Romo was pulled over by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office on Interstate 43 in Wisconsin for unsafe passing and cutting across a marked area. The responding officer reported that Romo had “red, glassy eyes” and a strong “odor of an intoxicating alcoholic beverage”.

Although Tony Romo initially claimed he had not been drinking and was driving home from a golf tournament to “visit grandma and grandpa,” he performed poorly on standardized field sobriety tests. Additionally, upon searching his vehicle, police discovered an open bottle of an alcoholic beverage inside the car as well.

Romo was eventually cited for a first-offense OWI, an open container violation, and unsafe passing. However, since a first-offense OWI is treated as a civil forfeiture rather than a criminal misdemeanor in Wisconsin, it does not carry immediate jail time. Romo has been scheduled for a court hearing on September 21, 2026.

Meanwhile, after staying silent for eight days, CBS Sports issued a statement, removing Tony Romo from his broadcasting duties indefinitely.

Romo is in the seventh year of his 10-year, $180 million contract signed in 2020. He still has about $72 million left on the deal. CBS executives are reportedly looking closely at the “morals clause” in Romo’s contract. If they choose to end their relationship with him, this arrest, along with ongoing concerns about his preparation habits, might give CBS the legal grounds to terminate the contract without paying the remaining money.