In a move that was expected as soon as Mike Tirico joined NBC, though perhaps not this soon, Bob Costas has left his role as the network’s primetime Olympic host.
NBC Sports announced Thursday that Tirico will replace Costas as its primetime Olympic host beginning at next year’s Winter Games, marking the first time someone other than Costas has served as its primary host since Bryant Gumbel in 1988. Costas has hosted every Olympics on U.S. television since 1998, when Jim Nantz hosted the Winter Games on CBS.
According to Sports Business Daily, Costas had always intended to “reassess” his Olympic role after the Rio Games and informed NBC last fall that he would be stepping back. He will likely have some minimal role on future Olympics, providing voice overs and producing features.
In addition to leaving the Olympics, Costas will also stop hosting Sunday Night Football. He had already scaled back his role on SNF, replaced by Tirico in most weeks last season. Per The New York Times, he will continue to have a role on NBC’s NFL playoff coverage — including as host of next year’s Super Bowl — and remain host of the Kentucky Derby and, in years when a horse is going for the Triple Crown, The Belmont Stakes.
Tirico’s ascension to NBC Olympic host seemed a foregone conclusion from the moment he signed with NBC, though there was the off chance that the Today elements of NBC’s Olympic coverage would push for a non-sports figure like Matt Lauer or Ryan Seacrest. NBC Sports chairman Mark Lazarus told Sports Business Daily that “After getting to know [Tirico] and his work a little closer, it became clear to us that he was the guy. It wasn’t a difficult decision at all. We didn’t wrestle with it or contemplate it very long.”
(Thu. news from NBC Sports, Sports Business Daily 2.9, The New York Times 2.9)
