Hopefully you’re sitting down for this stunning piece of news that surely will rock all of sports media, no… the world. Young upstart Bob Costas will host this year’s Olympics in primetime… again.
NBC confirmed the news that really didn’t need any confirmation because we all knew/assumed it was happening anyways. But, Costas will host his seventh Summer Olympiad in primetime going all the way back to Barcelona in 1992, 24 years ago. It’s his twelfth Olympics in total (Summer & Winter) for NBC. Hopefully Costas has a better experience in Rio than he did in Sochi, although given what we know about the current situation in Rio, NBC may want to hold Costas in an underground shelter in between appearances.
“For a quarter-century, Bob has been NBC’s pilot of primetime at the Olympics, and over that span, the scope of our coverage has constantly evolved, with Rio set to become the most live event in U.S. television history. Given his vast experience and uncanny expertise, simply put there is no one better than Bob to tell the stories of the athletes, take our viewers inside the world’s biggest sports event, and introduce them to one of the most spectacular cities on the planet,” said Jim Bell, Executive Producer, NBC Olympics.
“The Olympics are a unique television event,” Costas said. “They involve classic sports coverage, of course, but also many elements of storytelling and travelogue aspects that are not as much a part of the typical sports broadcast. In a way, the Olympics are a three-week mini-series which, if done well, should bring viewers not only memorable athletic performances, but a sense of the host city and country, and an appreciation of what is a truly global gathering.”
Now that we’ve got that formality out of the way, we can begin to talk about the more interesting dynamic – who’s Bob Costas’ successor?
NBC had a great option on the bench in Josh Elliott, who would seem to check all the boxes for what the network would be looking for in a primetime host. There’s just one problem, though. Elliott doesn’t work for NBC anymore.
And maybe, Elliott’s departure tells us all we need to know. Maybe Bob Costas’ successor is… Bob Costas. The top anchors and announcers at the major networks are sticking around for a good, long while. Jim Nantz has repeatedly said he wants to call 50 Masters and work until 2036. Marv Albert just signed a new contract at Turner.
Costas is still just 63, so theoretically he could work another 3 Summer Olympics easily. Perhaps that’s why Elliott was so quick to leave NBC, because he didn’t want to wait around indefinitely for Costas and/or Matt Lauer to leave their posts. The bigger question might just be whether there’s an Olympics for Costas to anchor in that time given all the issues currently surrounding the Games.
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