Bob Costas
Robert Quinlan Costas is an American sportscaster for MLB Network and NBC Sports. He is well known for his time with NBC Sports, which he worked for from 1980 through 2019, and since 2026. He has received 29 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 1988 until 2016. He is also currently employed by Warner Bros. Discovery, where he does political commentary for CNN.
Early life and education
Costas is the son of a Greek father, John George Costas, and an Irish mother, Jayne Costas. He grew up in Commack, New York, and attended Commack High School South.He attended the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, but dropped out in 1974. Costas got his first radio experience as a freshman at WAER, a student run radio station. In the mid-1980s, he established the Robert Costas Scholarship at the Newhouse School, of which the first recipient was Mike Tirico in 1987.
Broadcasting career
Early career
While studying communications in college, Costas began his professional career in 1973, at WSYR-TV and WSYR-FM radio in Syracuse. He called for the minor league Syracuse Blazers of the Eastern Hockey League.After leaving school in 1974, he joined KMOX radio in St. Louis. He covered games of the American Basketball Association. Costas would call Missouri Tigers basketball and co-host KMOX's Open Line call-in program. He did play-by-play for Chicago Bulls broadcasts on WGN-TV during the 1979–1980 NBA season.
NBC Sports
In 1980, Costas was hired by NBC. Don Ohlmeyer, who at the time ran NBC's sports division, told 28-year-old Costas he looked like a 14-year-old.For many years, Costas hosted NBC's National Football League coverage and National Basketball Association coverage. He also did play-by-play for NBA and Major League Baseball coverage. With the introduction of the NBC Sports Network, Costas also became the host of the new monthly interview program Costas Tonight.
Boxing
On March 30, 2015, it was announced that Costas would join forces with Marv Albert and Al Michaels on the April 11, 2015, edition of NBC's primetime PBC on NBC boxing series. Costas was added to serve as a special contributor for the event from Barclays Center in Brooklyn. He would narrate and write a feature on the storied history of boxing in New York City.Golf
Costas hosted NBC's coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament from 2003 to 2014.Major League Baseball
For baseball telecasts, Costas teamed with Sal Bando, Tony Kubek, and Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker. One of his most memorable broadcasts occurred on June 23, 1984. Costas, along with Tony Kubek, was calling the Saturday baseball Game of the Week from Chicago's Wrigley Field. The game between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals in particular was cited for putting Ryne Sandberg "on the map". In the ninth inning, the Cubs, trailing 9–8, faced the premier relief pitcher of the time, Bruce Sutter. Sandberg, then not known for his power, slugged a home run to left field against the Cardinals' ace closer. Despite this dramatic act, the Cardinals scored two runs in the top of the tenth. Sandberg came up again in the tenth inning, facing a determined Sutter with one man on base. Sandberg then shocked the national audience by hitting a second home run, even farther into the left field bleachers, to tie the game again. The Cubs went on to win in the 11th inning. When Sandberg hit that second home run, Costas said, "Do you believe it?!" The Cardinals' Willie McGee also hit for the cycle in the same game.While hosting Game 4 of the 1988 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics on NBC, Costas angered many members of the Dodgers by commenting before the start of the game that the Dodgers quite possibly were about to put up the weakest-hitting lineup in World Series history. That comment ironically fired up the Dodgers' competitive spirit, to the point where a chant of "Kill Costas!" began among the clubhouse, while the Dodgers eventually rolled to a 4–1 series victory.
Besides calling the 1989 American League Championship Series for NBC, Costas also filled in for a suddenly ill Vin Scully, who had come down with laryngitis, for Game2 of the 1989 National League Championship Series alongside Tom Seaver. Game2 of the NLCS took place on Thursday, October 5, which was an off day for the ALCS. NBC then decided to fly Costas from Toronto to Chicago to substitute for Scully on Thursday night. Afterward, Costas flew back to Toronto, where he resumed work on the ALCS the next night.
Costas anchored NBC's pre- and post-game shows for NFL broadcasts and the pre and post-game shows for numerous World Series and Major League Baseball All-Star Games during the 1980s. Costas did not get a shot at doing play-by-play for an All-Star Game until 1994 and a World Series until 1995, when NBC regained Major League Baseball rights after a four-year hiatus. It was not until 1997 when Costas finally got to do play-by-play for a World Series from start to finish. Costas ended up winning a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play.
In 1999, Costas teamed with his then-NBC colleague Joe Morgan to call two weekday night telecasts for ESPN. The first was on Wednesday, August 25 with the Detroit Tigers playing against the Seattle Mariners.
On August 3, 2019, Costas alongside Paul O'Neill and David Cone called both games of a double-header between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for the YES Network. Costas was filling in for Michael Kay, who was recovering from vocal cord surgery.
On August 20, 2021, reports emerged that TBS was nearing an agreement with Costas to host their coverage of that year's NLCS This became true when TBS announce his role on October 7, 2021.
On October 31, 2024, Costas announced that he was officially retiring from Major League Baseball play-by-play calling after 44 years. This means that his final Major League Baseball broadcast as a play-by-play announcer was Game 4 of the 2024 American League Division Series between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals, airing on TBS.
NASCAR
In November 2017, it was announced that Costas would co-anchor alongside Krista Voda on NBC's pre-race coverage leading into the NASCAR Cup Series finale from Homestead. In addition to hosting pre-race coverage, Costas would conduct a live interview with incoming NBC broadcaster Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was running his final race.National Basketball Association
Costas served as NBC's lead play-by-play announcer for their National Basketball Association broadcasts from 1997-2000. In that time frame, Costas called three NBA Finals including the 1998 installment between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz. Costas was paired with Isiah Thomas and Doug Collins on NBC's NBA telecast. Following the 2000 NBA Finals, he was replaced by Marv Albert as the lead play-by-play announcer, who incidentally, the man he directly replaced on the NBA on NBC in the first place.Costas had previously presided as host of NBC's pre-game show, NBA Showtime, while also providing play-by-play as a fill-in when necessary. Costas later co-anchored NBC's NBA Finals coverage in 2002, which was their last to-date.
Professional football
Costas began as a play-by-play announcer, working with analyst Bob Trumpy. In 1984, he would replace Len Berman as studio host. Among his NFL colleagues was O.J. Simpson, who had called 30 Rockefeller Plaza asking to speak to Costas during Simpson's infamous police chase through the freeways of Los Angeles. However, Costas was several blocks away at Madison Square Garden covering Game 5 of the 1994 NBA Finals. Costas learned of the attempted contact when visiting Simpson in prison later that year. Costas remained NFL studio host until 1992, when he was replaced by Jim Lampley.NBC Sports allowed Costas to opt out from having to cover the XFL. He publicly denigrated the league throughout its existence and remains a vocal critic of the XFL and its premise.
In 2006, Costas returned to NFL studio hosting duties for NBC's new Sunday Night Football, hosting its pre-game show Football Night in America.
Costas is nicknamed "Rapping Roberto" by New York City's Daily News sports media columnist Bob Raissman. Al Michaels also called him "Rapping Roberto" during the telecast between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants on September 10, 2006, in response to Costas calling him "Alfalfa".
Olympics (1988–2016)
Costas has frontlined many Olympics broadcasts for NBC. They include Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996, Sydney in 2000, Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004, Torino in 2006, Beijing in 2008, Vancouver in 2010, London in 2012, Sochi in 2014 and Rio in 2016. He discusses his work on the Olympic telecasts extensively in a book by Andrew Billings entitled Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television. A personal influence on Costas has been legendary ABC Sports broadcaster Jim McKay, who hosted many Olympics for ABC from the 1960s to the 1980s.During the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Opening Ceremonies, Costas's remarks on China's teams' possible drug use caused an uproar among the American Chinese and international communities. Thousands of dollars were raised to purchase ads in The Washington Post and Sunday The New York Times, featuring an image of the head of a statue of Apollo and reading: "Costas Poisoned Olympic Spirit, Public Protests NBC". However, Costas's comments were made subsequent to the suspension of Chinese coach Zhou Ming after seven of his swimmers were caught using steroids in 1994. Further evidence of Chinese athletes' drug use came in 1997 when Australian authorities confiscated 13 vials of Somatropin, a human growth hormone, from the bag of Chinese swimmer Yuan Yuan upon her arrival for the 1997 World Swimming Championships. At the World Championships, four Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned substance Triamterene, a diuretic used to dilute urine samples to mask the presence of anabolic steroids. Including these failed drug tests, 27 Chinese swimmers were caught using performance-enhancing drugs from 1990 through 1997; more than the rest of the world combined.
Along with co-host Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer, Costas's commentary of the 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies came under fierce criticism, with Costas being described as making "a series of jingoistic remarks, including a joke about dictator Idi Amin when Uganda's team appeared" and the combined commentary as being "ignorant" and "banal".
Following the Olympics, Costas appeared on Conan O'Brien's talk show and jokingly criticized his employer for its decision to air a preview of the upcoming series Animal Practice over a performance by The Who during the London closing ceremonies. "So here is the balance NBC has to consider: The Who, 'Animal Practice'. Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend—monkey in a lab coat. I'm sure you'd be the first to attest, Conan, that when it comes to the tough calls, NBC usually gets 'em right," Costas said, alluding at the end to O'Brien's involvement in the 2010 Tonight Show conflict.
An eye infection Costas had at the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics forced him, on February 11, 2014, to cede his Olympic hosting duties to Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira, the first time Costas had not done so at all since the 1998 Winter Olympics.