Verne Lundquist – CBS
Salary: $1.5 million per year
American sportscaster Verne Lundquist is known for his long career of over 50 years as a play-by-play commentator. The legendary sportscaster played himself during a scene in the 1996 Adam Sandler film “Happy Gilmore”. Lundquist was inducted in 2005 into the Sun Bowl Hall of Fame for being a staple in the broadcast booth. Few, if any, sports broadcasters have been involved in as many important events and moments in sports as Lundquist, and he has made sure to leave his mark through his “golden voice” commentary.
Born in Duluth, Minnesota, he began his broadcasting career in 1967 and was praised from the beginning for his “golden voice”. He has since worked with ABC, CBS, TNT, and other networks. Lundquist retired from broadcasting in recent years but continues to remain active as an announcer.
Patrick Cash - BBC
Salary: $1 million per year
Australian tennis player Patrick Hart Cash, also known simply as Pat Cash, is considered one of the best tennis players of all time and was inducted into Sport Australia's Hall of Fame in 2015. His monumental victory in 1987 at the Wimbledon championship propelled him to fame and legendary status. Cash claims his main passion outside of tennis is playing the guitar and spending quality time with his children. The tennis champion was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1965 and quickly rose to prominence even during his early years as a promising junior player. In 1981, Cash was ranked as the world's No. 1 junior tennis player.
Since retiring, he mostly hosts CNN's Open Court show which primarily focuses on tennis, and also sportscasts as a TV color commentator for the BBC. He also coached many top tennis players including Greg Ruseksi and even Mark Philippoussis. Cash is currently opening tennis academies in a variety of cities across the world.
Michael Cole - WWE
Salary: $500,000 per year
Sean Michael Coulthard, whom you'd probably recognize better by his stage name, Michael Cole, is a WWE play-by-play commentator on Smackdown. The broadcaster's original career began as a media journalist for CBS radio where he extensively covered political matters such as the 1988 United States elections and the Oklahoma City bombings.
Cole transitioned from journalism to broadcasting in 1997 when he began working for the WWF under the stage name "Michael Cole", and provided voice-overs for advertisement videos. He was chosen in 1999 to become one of the show's main play-by-play announcers and even had a few minor roles in storylines. Cole also appeared in many WWE video-games as a commentator by providing his voice. He was the prominent commentator and announcer during Jerry Lawler's heart attack and was considered extremely professional in the way he handled the event.
Tony Romo - CBS
Salary: $4 million per year
Like many other retired NFL quarterbacks, Tony Romo led an incredible NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys that lasted 13 years from 2003 until 2016 and ended up in a career-ending injury. He broke many records including passing touchdowns, passing yards, most games with at least 300 passing yards, and games with three or more touchdown passes. Romo also holds the fourth-highest passer rating in the NFL at 97.1. He was quickly picked up by CBS Sports and worked as the lead color analyst for the network's NFL Casts.
The retired Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks agents claim he wants to become the highest-paid NFL analyst on TV, and allegedly asked for a $10 million contract. Romo is currently making 4 million dollars annually and is yet to be the first one to break the 8-figure barrier as an analyst. He also claims to be a devout Christian and talks often about his faith and love for Jesus.
Bob Ley - ESPN
Salary: $2 million per year
Long-running and beloved ESPN host Bob Ley has recently announced that he is officially retiring from sports commentary and hosting after nearly 40 years of work with the network. The 64-year-old broadcaster announced his retirement and wrote "Thank you for a great run," on Twitter. As a multiple-time Emmy Award winner and one of the network's most recognizable voices, Ley was the longest working on-air employee in ESPN history as he joined merely three days after the network launched in 1979.
His various awards include the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Studio Host, the Golden Blazer of Fame and more. The veteran sportscaster provided the first live national reports during the 1989 World Series earthquake in San Francisco and was the host and commentator in many of the largest events in sports over the past 3 decades. In his personal life, Ley is married and has 2 kids. He also serves on Seton Hall University’s board of regents.