Who is Bob Costas?
Bob Costas, an American sportscaster, worked for NBC Sports for a considerable amount of time, from 1980 to 2019. From 1988 to 2016, he hosted 12 Olympic Games in prime time, earning 28 Emmys in the process. Bob presently works for Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, providing play-by-play and studio coverage for the MLB on TBS as well as analysis for CNN. Additionally, he performs play-by-play duties for MLB Network, where he previously co-hosted the Studio 42 interview program with Bob Costas.
Bob Costas Date of Birth / Age
Costas is 71 years old as of 2023, as he was born on March 22, 1952.
Bob Costas Height
Costas stands at a height of approximately 5 feet and 8 inches tall.
Bob Costas Parents and Siblings
Costas was born in Ireland to Jayne Costas (née Quinlan) and a Greek father, John George Costas. He went to Commack High School South while growing up in Commack, New York.
Bob Costas Spouse / Wife
From 1983 through 2001, Costas was wed to Carole “Randy” Randall Krummenacher. Keith, their son, was born in 1986, and Taylor, their daughter, in 1989. Costas exchanged vows with Jill Sutton, his second wife, on March 12, 2004. Today, Costas and his wife spend most of their time in New York. Costas has frequently stated that even though he was born and raised in the New York region, he considers St. Louis to be his hometown.
Bob Costas Kids / Children
Costas and his first wife have two children together. Keith, their son, was born in 1986, and Taylor, their daughter, in 1989. When Kirby Puckett played center field for the Minnesota Twins, Costas allegedly jokingly promised him that if he was batting over.350 before his child was born. He would give the child the name Kirby. Although Kirby was batting better than.350, Keith wasn’t initially given the name Kirby. The name on the birth certificate was altered to “Keith Michael Kirby Costas” after Puckett reminded Costas of the arrangement. Keith, an associate producer on MLB Network’s MLB Tonight, has won two Sports Emmys. Taylor, an associate producer on NBC’s coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics, has won one.
Bob Costas Education
Costas was raised in Commack, New York, and went to Commack South High School. He received his degree from Syracuse University’s S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1974. At the student-run radio station WAER, Costas had his first radio experience as a freshman. Bob established the Robert Costas Scholarship at the Newhouse School in the middle of the 1980s, and Mike Tirico was its first winner in 1987.
Bob Costas Career
Early Career
At Syracuse’s WSYR-TV and radio, Costas launched his professional career in 1973 while finishing his communications degree. The Eastern Hockey Division’s lower league Syracuse Blazers were summoned by him. He started working for KMOX radio in St. Louis after graduating in 1974. During the 1979–1980 NBA season, he provided play-by-play for Chicago Bulls broadcasts on WGN-TV.
NBC Sports
Costas was employed by NBC in 1980. Don Ohlmeyer, who oversaw the network’s sports division at the time, remarked to Costas, then 28 years old, that he resembled a 14-year-old. Costas oversaw NBC’s coverage of the NBA and the National Football League for many years. Costas also took on the role of host of the brand-new monthly interview program Costas Tonight following the launch of the NBC Sports Network.
Boxing
Costas, a special contributor for the event from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, was added to the roster. He would narrate and write a documentary on the colorful boxing history of New York City.
Major League Baseball
Sal Bando[20] (1982), Tony Kubek (1983–1989), Joe Morgan, and Bob Uecker (1994–2000) were Costas’ partners for baseball telecasts. On June 23, 1984, he made one of his most enduring broadcasts during the game that would become known as “The Sandberg Game” in baseball history. Before the game began, Costas said that the Los Angeles Dodgers might be about to field the weakest-hitting lineup in World Series history, which infuriated many Dodgers (especially the team’s manager, Tommy Lasorda). The game was Game 4 of the 1988 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics.
Nascar
The co-anchoring of Costas and Krista Voda for NBC’s pre-race coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series finale from Homestead was announced in November 2017. In addition to doing a live interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Costas would oversee pre-race programming. The upcoming NBC broadcaster was competing in his last race.
National Basketball Association
From 1997 through 2000, Costas was the primary play-by-play announcer for NBC’s National Basketball Association broadcasts. During that time, Costas presided over three NBA Finals, including the Chicago Bulls vs. Utah Jazz matchup from 1998, which established an NBA record for television viewership. Costas was paired with Isiah Thomas and Doug Collins on the NBA broadcast on NBC. Marv Albert, who was, ironically, the person Costas first took over for on the NBA on NBC, took over play-by-play responsibilities after the 2000 NBA Finals.
Professional Football
Costas was given the option to not cover the XFL by NBC Sports. Throughout the league’s existence, he publicly disparaged it, and he continues to be a vociferous opponent of the league and its philosophy. For NBC’s brand-new Sunday Night Football in 2006, Costas hosted the pre-game show Football Night in America before returning to his NFL studio hosting duties. In 1992, Costas stopped hosting NFL telecasts for NBC. Jim Lampley and then Greg Gumbel took his position in the studio. Prior to taking over as The NFL on NBC’s studio host in 1984, Costas worked with analyst Bob Trumpy to call NFL games.
Olympics (1988-2016)
Costas has hosted a lot of Olympic broadcasts for NBC. Some other significant cities that have held major sporting events are 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. In the book Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television by Andrew Billings, he goes into great detail about his work on the Olympic telecasts. The famous Jim McKay, who presented numerous Olympics for ABC from the 1960s to the 1980s, had a personal impact on Costas.
Thoroughbred Racing
Costas co-hosted the Kentucky Derby in the period of 2001 to 2018. Rebecca Lowe essentially filled in for Costas on NBC’s thoroughbred racing coverage after Costas officially left NBC Sports, starting with the 2019 Kentucky Derby.
Departure from NBC Sports
On February 9, 2017, during an appearance on Today, Costas announced that he had started the process of leaving his primary on-air position at NBC Sports. He stated that he would hand over the hosting duties for NBC’s Olympics coverage to Mike Tirico (who joined the network from ESPN in 2016) and that Super Bowl LII would be his final Super Bowl. Costas eventually withdrew from the coverage, though. When Costas hosted the 2018 Belmont Stakes, where Justify won the Triple Crown, it was his last significant on-air performance for NBC. After 40 years, Costas’ departure from NBC Sports was formally confirmed on January 15, 2019.
Talk show hosting
The nationally syndicated radio program Costas Coast to Coast, which was renamed Costas on the Radio, was hosted by Costas from 1986 to 1996. The three-year run of Costas on the Radio came to an end on May 31, 2009. It was syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a company owned by Clear Channel, and broadcast each weekend on 200 stations nationally.
Costas worked as a reporter for Rock Center alongside Brian Williams starting in October 2011. He won praise for his live interview in November 2011 with Jerry Sandusky. A former assistant coach at Pennsylvania State University. During this Sandusky called in to refute the accusations of sexually abusing youngsters. On the NBC Sports Network, Costas hosted the monthly talk show, Costas, Tonight.
HBO Sports
To host a 12-week series called On the Record with Bob Costas, HBO hired Costas in 2001. Through the conclusion of the 2007 NFL season, Costas continued to host Inside the NFL. He co-hosted the program alongside Cris Collinsworth, Dan Marino, and Cris Carter, all former NFL greats. Throughout the NFL season, the show aired every week.
In February 2009, Costas departed HBO to join MLB Network. It was later revealed that Costas would join HBO. Once more as the anchor of the interview program Back on the Record, which would air every three months.
MLB Network
Costas hosted the first installment of All Time Games, which featured the freshly unearthed kinescope of Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. When the channel first launched on January 1, 2009. Don Larsen, pitched the first playoff perfect game in MLB history during that game. Yogi Berra, who caught the game, participated in a forum with him during the episode.
On February 3, 2009, Costas began working full-time for the network. He provided play-by-play for a few live baseball game telecasts and hosted a regular interview program called MLB Network Studio 42 with Bob Costas.
TBS
The National League Championship Series coverage on TBS would be hosted by Costas. According to a claim by Andrew Marchand in the New York Post dated August 20, 2021. Warner Media formally announced on October 7, 2021, that Costas would join TBS. This was for their coverage of the baseball postseason beginning on October 16.
As of the 2022 MLB season, Costas will continue to do play-by-play for TBS’s Tuesday night baseball package. In addition, he will serve as the host of the studio for the ALCS postseason coverage. It would be on TBS and the ALDS postseason coverage between the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees on TBS.
Other appearances
Both Baseball and its follow-up, The 10th Inning, by Ken Burns for PBS, benefited greatly from Costas’ contributions. He also makes an appearance in the PBS film A Time for Champions. It was made by Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis.
It was revealed that Costas would begin contributing to CNN in July 2020. CNN said that Costas would offer analysis “on a wide range of sports-related issues as the industry adapts to new challenges that were posed by the coronavirus. Also the frequent intersection of sports with larger societal issues was a challenge” In regards to his decision to join CNN, Costas, who would continue to work for MLB Network, said: “CNN’s willingness to devote time and attention to sports-related topics, makes it a good fit for me.”
How Much Does Bob Costas Earn?
Costas earns an annual salary of $ 7 million.
How Much is Bob Costas Worth?
Costas has been able to accumulate a net worth of $50 million.
Bob Costas Interests
Love for baseball
Costas is an avid baseball supporter. He wrote Fair Ball: A Fan’s Case for Baseball in 2000, and he has been mentioned as a potential commissioner. Former Oakland Athletics manager Tony La Russa gave Costas the opportunity to lead the team during a spring training game. This was as a surprise for his 40th birthday. In honor of baseball great Stan Musial’s lifetime batting average (.331). Costas initially dined at Musial’s St. Louis restaurant and left a $3.31 tip on a $10 bill. Costas is a member of the Baseball Assistance Team’s advisory board. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit devoted to assisting former Major League, Minor League, and Negro League players with their financial and medical needs.
Political Views
Costas describes himself as left of center but has acknowledged that he has voted for Republican politicians. On May 26, 2007, Costas spoke about George W. Bush’s presidency on his radio show. He said that while he liked Bush personally and had been optimistic about his presidency. The course of the Iraq war and other missteps had caused him to come to the conclusion that Bush’s presidency had “tragically failed”. And that it was “overwhelmingly evident, even if you’re a conservative Republican, if you’re honest about it, this is a failed administration.” Costas spoke with Bush the next summer while he was attending the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008.