CBS Still Has No Timetable for Tony Romo's Return After OWI Arrest

CBS Sports president David Berson gave reporters an update Tuesday on Tony Romo's status. It amounts to: nothing has changed.

"It's an evolving situation, and therefore we're still assessing," Berson said at the network's NFL season preview event in New York, according to the LA Times and The Independent. "There is no timetable or final decision at this time."

Romo, CBS's lead NFL analyst since 2017, has been on indefinite leave since July 31. That's when CBS pulled him from the booth "until further notice," days after his July 23 arrest in Milwaukee on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, according to NFL.com.

What happened on I-43

Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office records, cited by CBS News and Fox6Now, say Romo was stopped around 6:15 p.m. while driving south on I-43 near downtown Milwaukee. Deputies allege his vehicle crossed the center line and weaved in its lane. The arrest affidavit says Romo smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot and glassy eyes, and struggled to balance.

Body camera footage released by CBS News shows Romo asking to call his lawyer before performing field sobriety tests. An officer told him he wasn't allowed to make that call first. Romo told deputies he hadn't been drinking, then later said he'd had one Corona. He refused a preliminary breath test and a blood test, according to the affidavit. A warrant was issued for a blood sample; results haven't been made public.

He was booked and released the same night. He's cited for OWI first offense, an open container violation, and unsafe passing, according to Fox6Now and TheWrap. Under Wisconsin law, a first-offense OWI is generally a civil matter, not a criminal one, TheWrap noted. Romo's court date is September 21, after CBS's NFL season is already underway.

Romo had been in the area competing in the Wisconsin State Amateur golf tournament at West Bend Country Club, tying for 73rd, according to Fox6Now. He told deputies in the body cam footage he was coming from a golf course and heading to visit his grandparents.

Why CBS moved fast

CBS didn't wait for the legal process. Berson was direct about the calculation.

"We have to consider the impact on our image and our brand," Berson said, according to both The Guardian and The Independent. "That's very important to us. The focus should be and needs to be on our presentation and this great product and not on any others."

This is a network protecting itself, not punishing Romo for a crime he hasn't been convicted of. No conviction exists. No trial has happened. Romo hasn't publicly addressed the arrest, according to The Independent.

Berson also framed the timing as a business necessity. With the season opener a month away when the decision was made, he said the network's "hundreds of people" working on NFL coverage needed "certainty and direction," according to the LA Times.

Watt steps up, Tucker moves up

J.J. Watt, the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year who joined CBS as an analyst in 2023, now sits in the No. 1 booth with Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson, according to The Guardian. Their first assignment is September 13, when the Minnesota Vikings host the Green Bay Packers.

Watt had spent the previous season on CBS's No. 2 crew alongside Ian Eagle. Ross Tucker has been bumped up to fill that No. 2 role, The Guardian reported.

CBS airs a preseason game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Philadelphia Eagles on August 28, and the network is expected to announce its regular-season game assignments and pairings in the coming weeks, according to NFL.com.

What's unresolved

Romo signed a 10-year, reportedly $180 million contract with CBS in 2020, according to TheWrap. That deal, and Romo's role in it, hangs on a legal process that won't even get to a courtroom until three weeks into the NFL season CBS is currently prepping to broadcast.

The blood test results haven't been released. Wisconsin's civil framework for first-offense OWI means the stakes for Romo legally may be lower than the professional stakes CBS is weighing. Berson gave no indication Tuesday of what standard the network will use to decide Romo's future, or whether a court outcome will even be the deciding factor.

CBS Sports did not provide TheWrap with additional comment beyond Berson's remarks. Romo has not made a public statement about the arrest or his future with the network.