David Samson thinks Paramount-WBD merger played role in Tony Romo’s CBS exit

Less AI and more AA in your search results.

CBS Sports made what had long felt inevitable last week, announcing it was parting ways with NFL analyst Tony Romo after his OWI arrest two months ago.

“CBS Sports and Tony Romo have mutually agreed to part ways. We thank Tony for his contributions over the past nine years and wish him the best moving forward,” a network’s statement read. “J.J. Watt will continue to partner with Jim Nantz and Tracy Wolfson on our lead NFL announce team for the rest of the season. All other teams remain the same, including Ian Eagle, Ross Tucker and Evan Washburn.”

Romo, who had been on indefinite leave following his OWI arrest in Milwaukee a little over two months ago, released a statement of his own, saying he was “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.”

It probably didn’t hurt that, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, Romo and CBS reached a financial settlement before Friday’s announcement that the two sides were parting ways, which presumably means that he got most, if not all, of the $72 million still owed to him on the contract he signed in 2020.

While the move made a lot of sense for CBS, given Romo’s decline in the booth and the easy transition for J.J. Watt into their A booth alongside Jim Nantz, David Samson thinks another factor should be considered in why the company was so willing to move on.

“What you are not thinking about is that in the merger that is taking place right now with Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery, where it was announced that Skydance is going to be the overall name of the merged company. What you may not be focused on is what the CFO and all the people in the finance department of these companies are doing right now,” Samson said on the recent episode of Nothing Personal. “They’re going through their books, and they are arranging, with an accountant’s help, what money they want in what year on their balance sheet.

“If they fire Tony Romo and settle with him at $72 million, they’re not paying out $18 million a year for 4 years. From an accounting standpoint, they can capitalize all of those costs this year in this fiscal year. And what that means is it gives you an advantage going forward, making your books look better because you’re not recognizing $18 million of expense with no concomitant revenue because Tony Romo’s not doing your games.

“So it’s in the best interest to have a settlement done now. It’s in the best interest to get the settlement papered, signed, announced, and then reflected in this year’s financial statements. The reason why people don’t discuss that is you may say no one cares. And I tell you, I believe in you way more that you care as an audience about some things that are going on behind the scenes financially on why these sort of deals happened.”

Is Tony Romo still with CBS if Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery hadn’t just merged? We still feel like the answer is probably not, especially with all the reports that were coming out about their desire to move on. But it does add a unique wrinkle to the equation, especially as CBS looks ahead to NFL media rights negotiations in 2030.