Broadcaster Tony Romo returns to site of Super Bowl prediction
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had just watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fall to 7-5 with a home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in November when he made a bold proclamation.
“I’m going to make a guess here,” he said over live video of the teams shaking hands as the clock ticked down to 0:00. “There’s a better than good chance, I don’t even know what that percentage is, that these two (teams) are going to be back here in Tampa.”
Romo was predicting a Super Bowl matchup between the Chiefs and Buccaneers, a prognostication that just so happened to come true.
Romo will back at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday to once again provide color commentary for the broadcast as two of the league’s elite quarterbacks, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, square off in a rematch with the Vince Lombardi Trophy on the line.
It will be the second Super Bowl broadcast for Romo, who became CBS’s top football analyst upon his retirement from the league in 2017 and has quickly become one of the best in the business.
The 40-year-old signed a massive contract in February that makes him the highest-paid NFL analyst in history at around $17 million per season.
Romo will work Sunday’s broadcast with his usual partner, Jim Nantz. This will mark Nance’s sixth Super Bowl as the play-by-play voice for CBS.
Nantz and Romo have formed one of the most entertaining broadcast duos in all of sports. Nantz is the consummate pro and Romo exudes enthusiasm as he seems to genuinely enjoy watching the games each week.
Their usual sideline reporting partner, Tracy Wolfson, will also work the game, her fourth Super Bowl. Evan Washburn, who has worked two previous Super Bowls, will join her on the opposite sideline.
Former NFL kicker Jay Feely will provide kicking game analysis, as he did for the 2016 and 2019 Super Bowls.
But Romo is the star of the show.
The former signal-caller has also developed a reputation for predicting what play a team is going to run. Though he has moderated how often he incorporates such guesses into the broadcast, it’s still a Twitter event each time he’s correct.
More than 100 million viewers are expected to tune in to hear him try.
They won’t, however, see it in 4K or HDR. Fox offered the game in those formats last year, but complications of airing the game during the COVID-19 pandemic will prevent CBS from streaming in those formats for the first time as was originally planned.
Viewers can expect plenty of promos for CBS’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament, which is expected to return in March after it was canceled last year.
Some familiar advertisers will be absent from the broadcast, however.
While Anheuser-Busch will promote some of its brands, it will not air any commercials for its flagship Budweiser brand. Instead, money will be donated to vaccination awareness campaigns.
Pepsi will focus on its sponsorship of the halftime show, which will star The Weeknd.
Popular brands have expressed concern about how to strike the right chord between humor and the more melancholy mood of a country engulfed in a pandemic.
As for the seemingly endless pregame show, the usual CBS crew will be present along with plenty of features and special guests leading up to the 3:30 p.m. kickoff.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.