The highly anticipated Super Bowl game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers has created a lot of buzz among football fans. It is one of the biggest sporting events in the country and gamblers are pouring in money on bets, which doesn’t sit well with the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo .
During a recent interview with The Athletic, the former Cowboys quarterback and CBS analyst Tony Romo expressed his concern with the league’s marriage with gambling. Romo — who will be working as an analyst for the Super Bowl — said the gambling in the NFL is making football less pure.
Once you start going into that world (of betting on games), it strikes me as you’ve got to be great at two things. Now you’re affecting people’s lives with what you’re saying in some way. It just makes it feel less pure. Tony Romo told the Athletic
Romo’s advice is looked upon by millions of people across the country. Some use Romo’s weekly insights to make money, via gambling or fantasy football. So, Romo believes now he has to be extra careful since he could lose some people’s money, which apparently he never had to worry about in the past.
Gambling on the NFL is not a new thing, but the league is now embracing it and even allows legal outlets to be involved in it. Just a couple of decades ago, the league wouldn’t even advertise gambling, but now, they are slowly starting to be a part of it. Well, the NFL seems to believe in the phrase, if you can’t beat them, join them.
Tony Romo might believe gambling makes football less pure, but people keep pouring money into betting. According to reports, record-breaking $23.1 billion worth of bets are set to be placed on the Chiefs-49ers Super Bowl, a 35% increase from last year’s championship game.
Tony Romo pushes back against criticism of his commentary
The CBS Sports broadcaster is used to be one of the most beloved commentators in the game. In recent years, Romo has received some criticism about his commentary, but he believes more people love their broadcasting than people who hate it.
During last Thursday’s CBS NFL media call, Romo addressed the media and opened up about some criticism he has faced on social media over his commentary.
I think there’s far more people who I see every single day who come up and love our broadcast and our team and CBS and what we do, and I hear that and feel that.
Tony Romo said
Romo is set to be part of CBS Sports’ broadcast of the Super Bowl game between the Chiefs and the San Francisco-based football team. He will serve as the analyst, while Jim Nantz will be the play-by-play announcer.
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