NBC is pulling out all the stops for its New Years NHL debut.
The NHL Winter Classic, an outdoor game featuring the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins, will get marquee treatment by NBC, which is carrying the game nationally. Bob Costas will host the event, making his first appearance on an NHL on NBC telecast.
Costas will likely be joined by Mike Milbury, who replaces Brett Hull and Ray Ferraro as the studio analyst for NHL games this season. Earlier this year, NBC announced that Milbury and Pierre McGuire would make up the studio team for the NHL on NBC, reporting from the site of the featured game, in lieu of a studio.
Since NBC lost the rights to the NBA in 2002, Costas has appeared only on the network’s NFL telecasts, the Olympics and golf’s U.S. Open. Could NBC possibly be grooming Costas to host the network’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals in June, much in the way Al Michaels hosted ABC’s Stanley Cup Finals coverage earlier this decade? No disrespect to Pierre McGuire, but Costas would certainly give the event more prestige — the same reason he will head to Buffalo on New Year’s Day.
Link to NBC Sports press release found via Fang’s Bites.
