Bob Costas rips NFL after news breaks he won't be on Super Bowl broadcast
This year’s Super Bowl was supposed to be a sendoff of sorts for longtime NBC broadcaster Bob Costas.
Costas announced early last year he would be stepping back as NBC’s lead host for major sporting events. His last big event was scheduled to be Super Bowl LII, which would be his seventh and final time hosting the telecast.
Change of plans.
Monday, NBC announced its lineup of on-air talent for coverage of this year’s Super Bowl, and the name that was conspicuous in its absence was that of Costas.
In his place, Dan Patrick and Liam McHugh will host the Super Bowl LII pregame show from Minneapolis. Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth will be the game’s broadcasters.
“Dan and Liam have served as hosts for our NFL pregame/studio shows on Sunday nights and Thursday nights, respectively, throughout the season and will continue on Super Bowl Sunday,” the network said in a statement.
When asked about his absence from the game’s coverage, Costas sounded like the ultimate team player. “Dan and Liam have done the job hosting NBC’s NFL coverage all season,” Costas told Sports Business Daily. “It wouldn’t be right for me to parachute in and do the Super Bowl.”
Since then, there has been speculation that Costas was taken off the broadcast because of comments he made at a seminar in November in which he was critical of the NFL and the sport of football.
“The reality is that this game destroys people’s brains,” Costas told a crowd at the University of Maryland. “The cracks in the foundation are there. The day-to-day issues, as serious as they may be, they may come and go. But you cannot change the nature of the game. I certainly would not let, if I had an athletically gifted 12- or 13-year-old son, I would not let him play football.”
Costas said those comments had nothing to do with him not being a part of the broadcast.
“I have been making the same points for several years, often on NBC,” Costas told Sports Business Daily. “In halftime commentaries, interviews with Roger Goodell and other prominent NFL figures, appearances on CNN and elsewhere, I have addressed the issue of football and its undeniable connection to brain trauma many times. Why? Because the evidence is overwhelming and the effects are often devastating. It’s the elephant in the stadium at every game whether others choose to acknowledge it or not. And it’s not going away. So the idea that I am only now finding my voice on this, or that NBC was taken aback by what I said at Maryland is just wrong. It’s all simple and straightforward.”
Costas said he’s not upset about not being a part of this year’s Super Bowl. In fact, he’s more than fine with it because of his issues with the sport.
“The decision was mutually agreeable, and not only do I not have a problem with it, I am actually happy about it,” he said. “I have long had ambivalent feelings about football, so at this point, it’s better to leave the hosting to those who are more enthusiastic about it.”
Costas has rankled more than a few viewers in recent years by interjecting his political beliefs into sports coverage. In 2012, Costas used the murder-suicide involving Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher to call for stricter gun control.
In September, Costas called out President Donald Trump for his suggestion that NFL owners should fire players who don’t stand for the national anthem prior to games.
“It’s very clear that there’s almost no one in the NFL who wants to support or rationalize the tone and content of President Trump’s remarks,” Costas said on CNN. “I hope others follow [Colin] Kapernick’s lead. Not in some of the naive political statements he’s occasionally made, but getting involved in the community and actually doing things.”
Mike Tirico, also a familiar face on NBC’s NFL coverage this season, will not be part of the Super Bowl broadcast. Instead, he will be in South Korea, where he will be taking over for Costas as host of NBC’s primetime coverage of the Winter Olympics, which begins Feb. 9.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
