End of an Era at NBC

Bob Costas has always been my favorite sportscaster.  As someone who grew up loving the Olympics, he essentially narrated my childhood and early adulthood.  The first Olympics that I can truly remember is Barcelona 1992, which was his first as NBC's primetime host.  So, for an entire generation of fans, he WAS the Olympics.  The Games didn't start until Bob Costas welcomed us to the host city and they didn't end until his farewell message after the Closing Ceremony.

I always wanted to be a sportscaster growing up, and I thought he had the coolest job in the world.  And I wanted it.  I wanted to BE Bob Costas.  I still kinda do.

My first job out of grad school was at Yale.  A few months after I stopped working there, he spoke at Yale, and I went back for the speech.  Then I was invited by my former boss to stick around for the dinner afterwards.  I got the chance to meet my idol! 

We all knew the day would eventually come when he was no longer NBC's Olympic host.  And when NBC hired Mike Tirico away from ESPN, it was just as clear who his successor would be.  And he's a worthy one.  It was definitely a little weird to not have Bob Costas at the start of the PyeongChang Games.  But Tirico didn't miss a beat.  And by the end of the Olympics, you almost forgot he wasn't there.  Which is more a credit to Mike Tirico than any sort of knock on Bob Costas.

He stepped away from the Olympics voluntarily.  Part of the reason why was because he knew they were in good hands.  Initially I thought he might take on a Tom Brokaw-type role and still do some feature stories in PyeongChang, so it was a bit of a surprise to not see him in Korea at all.  But I can also understand that he wanted to make a clean break.

But not doing the Olympics and not wanting anything to do with football left him with very little to do at NBC period.  Those are the network's two biggest sports properties, and he wasn't involved in either.  He was noticeably absent from their Super Bowl LII coverage (even though Tirico was already in Korea preparing for the Olympics) and, outside of presenting the Triple Crown to Justify's owners at the Belmont, I can't even think of an NBC sporting event that he hosted instead of Tirico in 2018.

Rumors that he was no longer happy at NBC had been swirling for a while, so the exit after 40 years doesn't come as a complete surprise.  Unlike Matt Lauer and Megyn Kelly, this one was completely mutual.  Bob Costas could've stayed at NBC until his contract expired in 2021 if he wanted to, but he was ready to move on.  And there's enough mutual respect that NBC wasn't going to make him stay.

As he said to the New York Post, which broke the story, "Sometimes you get to a point where it is not a fit anymore.  It doesn't mean that anyone is angry or upset."  I think that sums it up perfectly.  He was the face of NBC Sports for a long time, but his role had changed and he was no longer content.  He wanted that passion back.

His biggest passion is baseball, and he was inducted into the broadcasters' wing of the Hall of Fame last year.  He's been involved with MLB Network since literally day one.  The very first program on MLB Network 10 years ago was Don Larsen's perfect game, with Bob Costas hosting and interviewing both Larsen and Yogi Berra.  He's done both games and studio stuff on MLB Network ever since.  My guess is now he'll do more.

One of his greatest strengths as a broadcaster, though, is the fact that he's an incredible interviewer.  It's because of his interview skills that he's won multiple Emmys.  His interviewing talents went beyond sports, too.  In fact, he hosted his own NBC late night talk show that aired after David Letterman for six years from 1988-94.  There were also his HBO programs, On the Record and Costas Now, both of which were not only excellent, but incredibly well-received.  

These are the types of projects that he wanted to get back to, but couldn't because of the restrictions in his NBC contract.  Now he's free to pursue them, as well as other projects he's passionate about.  Whether that means an increased presence on MLB Network (which seems likely) or a new show on another network remains to be seen.  But what we do know is that we haven't seen the last of Bob Costas,  Even though he won't be on NBC anymore, this is definitely not a retirement.

Which is a good thing.  Because I don't think I'm mentally prepared for Bob Costas to not be on TV at all.  We'll continue to enjoy his brilliant work on MLB Network, as well as whatever else he chooses to pursue.  Still, it'll be weird to not see him on NBC.  He may be moving on, but it was one hell of a run for Bob Costas at NBC Sports.