• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, January 30, 2019

Former quarterback Tony Romo, enjoying his current status as America’s most gifted psychic, stars in Skechers’ new Super Bowl commercial.

Broadcaster Romo, calling his first Super Bowl this year, has been generating all kinds of buzz for his semi-prescient predictions during the playoffs.

But he takes it easy in the new ad. He likes things so easy that he has a hovercraft butler tray and a tennis-ball launcher app for his dog. The commercial promotes Skechers Sport Slip-on, made with memory foam.

It’s the seventh year the Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based footwear company is playing in the Super Bowl, ponying up for spots that are said to be selling for more than $5.1 million.

Romo has been appearing in Skechers ads since 2017. Previous spokespeople have included Joe Montana, Mark Cuban and a memorable French bulldog named Mr. Quiggly. Other athletes on its alumni list Pete Rose, David Ortiz, Mariano Rivera, Ozzie Smith, Tommy Lasorda, Joe Namath and Wayne Gretzky.

Because of its positioning as a casual brand, Skechers sales have been riding high on the athleisure trend, even as brands like Nike, Adidas and Under Armour struggle in the performance category. In its most recent quarterly results, Skechers posted record revenues of $1.18 billion, a 7.5% gain, with global retail sales rising by 10.6%.

Romo’s appearance in a commercial is unlikely to create anything near the attention he’s gotten this season. And he’s earned a new level of social-media stardom following the playoff games, wowing viewers with the ability to call a play before it even happened.

That, coupled with his relentless enthusiasm for the game, led baseball player Bryce Harper, in the midst of his own contract negotiations, to tweet: “Just called Tony Romo to see where I’m going to play next year. #YoureAWizardTony.”

Romo’s reputation for accurate forecasts led to an onslaught of pleas for prognostication, right down to “Hey Tony, what am I having for dinner tonight?”

The Wall Street Journal even went back and reviewed every play in every game Romo called this season -- 2,599, to be precise --a nd found he made 72 predictions, and was accurate about 68% of the time. (That’s better,  than Patriots’ Tom Brady’s completion record, the report says.)