CBS, Tony Romo could be heading for a high-stakes legal battle

In the photo accompanying this item, CBS analyst Tony Romo is reading a green. It's fitting, given recent developments, to read the legal tea leaves regarding Romo and his employer.

In a terse, one-sentence press release issued on Friday, CBS placed Romo on leave " until further notice ." CBS promptly elevated J.J. Watt to the top CBS NFL broadcast team, which makes it clear that Romo's leave will trickle into the 2026 season.

So what's the end game? An article from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic hints strongly at the possibility that CBS may be looking for an off-ramp from a contract that has four years and $72 million remaining. And if CBS eventually pulls the trigger on a "for cause" termination that would cut off Romo's money, the amount of money still owed would spark a massive legal fight.

As Marchand notes, Romo's contract has a morals clause. It's usually a very broad and vague term, which often speaks in terms of "personal conduct with respect to what is generally considered public morals" while on or off the clock, compliance with "social conventions or public morals or decency," and behavior that brings the employee or the network "into public disrepute, contempt, scandal, or ridicule, or that shocks, insults or offends the community" or that simply "reflects unfavorably" on the employee.

Depending upon the specific ingredients of the word salad CBS tossed into Romo's contract, it may decide to conclude that Romo's arrest for suspicion of operating while intoxicated, his behavior during his traffic stop and failed field sobriety test (which he knew or should have known was being recorded), and the alleged presence of an open container of alcohol in his vehicle are enough to constitute a violation of the very broad and vague morals clause.

Romo would surely fight back, if CBS eventually tries to fire him with cause and without pay. Assuming his deal includes an arbitration clause (as it should, if the CBS lawyers knew what they were doing), there wouldn't be a lawsuit or a trial in open court.

The challenge for Romo's lawyers would be to find other situations in which CBS broadcasters engaged in potentially similar conduct without being fired for cause, in an effort to show that the morals clause was being invoked as a pretext for escaping a contract that CBS now regrets. If, as many believe, Romo simply isn't as good at his job as he used to be, that's not enough for CBS to fire him for cause. They'd need something more, and the morals clause may give it to them.

Then there's the "nothing to lose" dynamic. If CBS would be paying him $72 million to go away, why not try to pay him nothing instead? If they lose the arbitration, they'd still pay him the $72 million anyway.

The most prudent outcome would be a settlement of his contract. That would come down to negotiating the amount that CBS would pay Romo to leave, and every dollar saved under $72 million would be a bonus.

At this point, no one knows what CBS will do. Based on what it has done, common sense points to CBS looking for a way out of the Romo deal, while saving as much of the $72 million as it can.

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