Andrew Marchand of The New York Post reports that Bob Costas is working on a buyout with NBC. If the two sides can come to an agreement, it would end Costas’s current contract three years early. NBC declined to comment for the story. Costas told Marchand that he has realized it is time for a change.
According to Costas, his decision to step away from his duties as host of NBC’s Olympics coverage and his general lack of interest in football are driving this decision. He told Marchand “sometimes you get to a point where it is not a fit anymore,” and added “It doesn’t mean that anyone is angry or upset.”
Costas, who also works for MLB Network, has been the single most recognizable NBC Sports talent for decades, but Marchand says there are a lot of reasons it makes sense for the two sides to split. First, he notes just how much it costs NBC to employ Bob Costas.
As it stands now, NBC is paying Costas seven figures per year in a “Tom Brokaw-like” emeritus role to pitch in when needed. In the last couple of years, he has only been on the air sparingly for perspectives on news events like the deaths of Muhammad Ali and colleague Dick Enberg, as well as a few minutes during the Triple Crown races.
There is also the issue of Costas’s criticism of football and the NFL, which may be detrimental to NBC, which carries the league’s Sunday Night games, a television package that has become one of the most valuable in all of sports.
With NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” contract running through the 2022 season, Costas’ commentaries — even off NBC’s air — could be more of a liability than an asset in retaining its NFL package. The two sides could agree to allow Costas to do other projects, while remaining a part of NBC, but that does not seem to make sense for either.
Costas will continue to work for MLB Network. As for what his exit from NBC could mean, his agent Sandy Montag told Andrew Marchand that network executives have been cooperative in terms of trying to reach an agreement.
Marchand also noted that if Bob Costas wants to create another show like the programs On the Record and Costas Now, which he made for HBO, he may have no shortage of suitors amongst streaming content providers.
