Tony Romo Arrested on Suspicion of Drunk Driving in Wisconsin
Tony Romo spent Thursday afternoon chatting with a Milwaukee TV crew about his golf game, the Wisconsin Amateur, and how he still spins a football better than he swings a 7-iron. By Thursday evening, the 46-year-old former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and CBS NFL analyst was in the back of a squad car.
Romo was arrested on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated after a traffic stop on southbound Interstate 43 in Milwaukee at approximately 6:18 p.m. CDT, according to Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office records first obtained by ABC affiliate WISN-TV. The arrest report says Romo “performed poorly” on standardized field sobriety tests. He was booked and released around 11 p.m.
A court appearance is set for September 21 at 8:30 a.m. — Monday of the NFL’s Week 2, when CBS’s top broadcast team is expected to be in Foxborough for a Steelers-Patriots matchup. Whether Romo is in the booth that weekend is an open question. CBS declined to comment on the arrest.
Romo grew up in Burlington, Wisconsin, about 35 miles southwest of Milwaukee. He was back in his home state to compete in the Wisconsin Amateur Championship, where he shot a four-round total of 315 — 73rd place, 32 strokes behind champion Spencer Turtz. Hours before the traffic stop, he sat for a golf-course interview with NBC affiliate WTMJ, telling sports director Karley Marotta he was “competitive in both” golf and football but conceded, “I am just better at football.”
In Wisconsin, a first-offense OWI is not a criminal charge. It typically carries a fine between $150 and $300. It was not immediately clear Friday whether Romo had retained a defense attorney.
Romo signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2003, took over the starting job in 2006, and spent his entire 13-season playing career in Dallas. He made four Pro Bowls, led the Cowboys to six playoff appearances, and retired after the 2016 season. He remains the franchise’s career leader in touchdown passes with 248. He held the passing-yards record at 34,183 until Dak Prescott surpassed it last season.
In April 2017, Romo moved into the CBS broadcast booth alongside play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz and sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson, forming the network’s top NFL team. He called his third Super Bowl in 2024. His pre-snap predictions and enthusiasm made him one of the highest-paid analysts in sports television — the kind of second act that makes a coach nod, even if the first act didn’t end with a ring.
Now he’s got a September court date in Milwaukee County, and the film doesn’t lie. What the sheriff’s deputies documented on I-43 Thursday evening will be on the table before any judge, and CBS will have to decide what it wants its lead analyst doing on the Monday of Week 2 — calling a game or standing before a bench in Wisconsin.
