The slim possibility of Jim Nantz leaving CBS Sports has disappeared. Per the Sports Business Journal, Nantz and CBS have agreed to a contract extension of an unknown length and value that will keep one of the top play by play broadcasters in sports at the network.
SBJ also reports that Nantz never seriously talked to another network, and that “he was never close to leaving.”
The possibility of Nantz leaving CBS was raised in November, but the only network able to check all the boxes Nantz wanted checked was CBS. ESPN was rumored as a suitor in the aftermath of Ian Eagle’s new contract at CBS, but clearly, they weren’t able to offer Nantz what CBS could.
As for Nantz’s contract, he’s said that he wants to call the Masters until he’s (at least) 75. Nantz will turn 62 this year, meaning that he’ll be 75 at the Masters in 2035. The new NFL deal CBS signed earlier this month runs through the 2033 season, with the third Super Bowl of that deal coming in 2032. So while I’ll doubt that Nantz got a deal that long, something like six years makes sense to me, with CBS and Nantz taking it from there as this decade rolls along.
