NFL Off Topic

[kehlis]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Well, Romo is the difference between watching with the mute on or not in CBS' main game, I will say that much.

That's a you thing though.

Ratings aren't affected if you are watching a game with mute on or off.

[Master Live 013]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Right, so is Romo bringing in new viewers?

When Madden left FOX to go to ABC his contract stipulated he would be paid $8,000,000 in 2003. That's $11,375,136 in 2019.

Did you guys tuned in for Tough Actin' Tinactin?

MNF is so desperate, I wonder how high they needed to go for Romo to actually go there? 20M? 25M? 30M?

Right back to you Booger.

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: NFL Off Topic

He earned his contract so I can’t be mad or hate on him at all.

[Speedy]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Romo stays w/ CBS. New deal gets him $17m/year, contract worth over $100m. Largest sports analyst contract in history.

I remember when Kevin Brown got a $100M contract in 1998 people went ballistic. Times have changed indeed.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Operation Sports mobile app

[Master Live 013]

Re: NFL Off Topic

CBS has signed Tony Romo to a deal worth about $17 million a year—five times what he was making, and the highest amount ever paid to an announcer, even when adjusting for inflation. The money is incredible. But what’s really interesting is why CBS coughed it up. Here are five thoughts:

1. The most common “comp” for Romo’s bidding war was the one John Madden enjoyed in December 1993. Madden was offered the no. 1 job by three networks (one offered to throw in a train car to ferry him between games) and wound up being paid more by Fox than any player in the NFL at the time.

Here’s the difference: The networks pursuing Madden in ’93 had just signed new NFL rights deals. Romo’s suitors are trying to sign new rights deals. They regarded hiring Romo as their opening bid. By becoming a free agent before the negotiations began, Romo had unbelievable timing. It was the kind of superb luck he never quite had as a player.

Romo’s two bidders, CBS and ESPN, were desperate for different reasons. For CBS, re-signing its NFL deal is no less than an existential imperative for the network. CBS has to make a new deal without Robert Kraft pal Les Moonves, who left after accounts of sexual harassment and assault. Moreover, the newly merged ViacomCBS is tiny (worth about $25 billion) compared to competitors like Disney and Comcast. “With Moonves’s departure, they need to show they’re still in business,” said one source briefed on the Romo negotiations.

Awash in Star Wars and Marvel money, meanwhile, ESPN and Disney aren’t quite so desperate. But they have a huge shopping list for the upcoming NFL negotiations. They want to add playoff games (they currently have one per year); elbow their way into the Super Bowl rotation; add flex scheduling for Monday Night Football; put Sunday- or maybe Thursday-night games on their schedule; and continue the larger “reset” in league relations their executives have bent over backward to pursue.

Plus, ESPN wanted Romo to make Monday Night Football a more watchable TV show. “I think they believe [Romo] helps them with everything NFL-related,” the source said when ESPN was still in the hunt.

2. A week ago, Romo wasn’t a lock to return to CBS. “Bob Bakish”—the president and CEO of ViacomCBS—“became heavily involved in the elevation of the money,” the source said. “He and Shari Redstone”—ViacomCBS’s chairwoman—“perceived it as a must-keep in order to maintain their position on re-upping their NFL rights.”

Romo’s salary climbed to $17 million in the past week, the source said, allowing CBS to sign him before their exclusive window closed on March 3.

3. So CBS signed Romo. The thing is, that won’t guarantee the network a new NFL rights deal. The NFL, which has maximum leverage over its partners in the dying days of network TV, isn’t handing out deals because it likes how Romo can predict plays.

The better way to think about CBS signing Romo is as a network finalizing its pre-negotiation preparations with style. CBS is crossing t’s and dotting i’s—“improving the micro things to get the macro transaction they want,” the source said.

4. Announcer salaries are hard to pin down. But CBS can’t sign Romo for twice what his A-team network counterparts reportedly make and not expect it to have side effects. The biggest is that every announcer who considers themselves Romo-adjacent is going to ask for a raise. Like, on Monday. Romo is akin to a free-agent quarterback who just reset the market—except TV networks don’t have salary caps. “If you think about Troy Aikman or any of those folks, it becomes, ‘Hey, what about me?’” said the source.

Because of the sheer number of egos at ESPN, signing Romo would have presented a massive internal challenge for president Jimmy Pitaro. If ESPN had paid $15 million or more for Romo, why wouldn’t, say, Kirk Herbstreit ask for a bump? How would Romo’s deal have affected Stephen A. Smith, who just signed to be ESPN’s highest-paid personality by declaring “I consider me the American Dream”? Pitaro lost an announcer but avoided a massive headache.

5. A second side effect of the Romo bidding: Network executives are remembering the importance of developing a no. 2 analyst. In an ideal world, every network sports chief would have a no. 2 ready to be promoted if the no. 1 announcer switched networks, left to be an NFL team president, or simply ran out of juice, like Phil Simms. Once upon a time, John Lynch and Matt Millen were solid no. 2s—essentially, their network’s backup quarterbacks.

What the Romo bidding revealed is that none of the networks have no. 2s they’d feel completely comfortable promoting. (CBS has Dan Fouts; Fox has Charles Davis; ESPN and NBC show one game per week.) That’s why two networks have bent the knee to Peyton Manning; why executives await the retirements of would-be announcers like Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, and Greg Olsen; why Jay Cutler—whom Fox hired as a no. 2 before he returned to play for the Dolphins—may get another chance at a being on a TV show that doesn’t star his wife.

For all the talk about the $17 million, the great Romo bidding war will be remembered by the networks as a cautionary tale. When you don’t have a bench, you have to overpay the starters.

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2020/2/28/21158725/tony-romo-cbs-record-breaking-announcing-contract-17-million-annually?utm_campaign=theringer&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Shut the **** up Aikman, before FOX puts you to pasture.


PS: I know Aikman actually didn't say anything and it is just a hypothetical, I'm just saying.

[LambertandHam]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Credit to Romo for building his brand tbh. I actually like Al Michaels and Collinsworth a little more.

[slickdtc]

Re: NFL Off Topic

People may not tune in for a good commentators but they might tune out for a bad commentator. I’m looking at you, ESPN.

That’s crazy money though. Dude is making player money, HIGH END player money, as a commentator. Interesting that Madden was doing the same 25 years ago. And Romo just started.

[Master Live 013]

Re: NFL Off Topic

CBS is giving Tony Romo a firm three-year deal to remain at the network, but it could grow to a 10-year deal, per sources. If the NFL extends its rights deal with CBS, Romo’s deal extends by seven additional years, even if the new rights deal is for a term shorter than seven.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 29, 2020

********

Boom.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: NFL Off Topic

10/170 as an announcer is wild.

[dubcity]

Re: NFL Off Topic

I've always liked Romo. Felt like he got way way too much hate through the years.

[ojandpizza]

Re: NFL Off Topic

So Jameis needed eye surgery and was playing with a broken thumb and torn meniscus? Ok then, he needs to show me something this next year then.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sportsforever]

Re: NFL Off Topic

I always like Romo as a player and I do like him as an announcer...but I do not understand this deal at all. It's their money to spend and I'm sure they did plenty of research, but the announcer has never been why I watch a game.

[l3ulvl]

Re: NFL Off Topic

How can the NFLPA go for this deal without a second bye week and a end to the Thursday night games?

I remember asking awhile back why more bye weeks wouldn't be an option and I was told "advertising".

I didn't understand but I accepted

WOW. Do people really watch for the commentary? I figure you could put a bird and a chimpanzee in the booth and people will watch football. That seems crazy to pay a commentator that much.

I don't like Romo, can the ratings calculators factor my viewing of the game while on mute? Does that mean anything?

I don't understand but I accept

[TheMatrix31]

Re: NFL Off Topic

I think good announcers add to a broadcast and bad announcers severely, clearly detract from a broadcast.

[Bartolo Colon]

Re: NFL Off Topic

Rams will unveil new logo and colors before the draft and will release new uniforms at some point after the draft.

Saw another tweet that said the Browns new unis will look how the Browns are supposed to look.