ED NOTE – In a since-deleted post, Awful Announcing mischaracterized some of Bob’s comments on his Olympics viewing habits. We regret the error.
Starting with the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea through the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Bob Costas was NBC’s host for the games 12 times. He passed the torch to Mike Tirico in 2017 and would wind down his time with NBC Sports in the years ahead.
Costas covered a wide array of sports and events during his three decades with NBC but his work on the Olympics reached worldwide audiences and helped define him as one of America’s iconic sports voices to several generations.
It’s been eight years since Costas, now 72, last called the Olympic games and he recently spoke with Brandon Contes on the Awful Announcing Podcast about whether or not he misses it and what happened when his critiques hit close to home for China and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“I don’t miss covering it, but that’s because I did a dozen of them and honestly felt that that was enough,” Costas said in response to whether or not he misses it. “I could still do it. I was still capable of doing it. I think NBC made the right choice, the very best choice, to hire Mike Tirico to ultimately succeed me and to succeed Al [Michaels] on Sunday Night Football because he’s capable of both play-by-play and hosting. He’s one of the most versatile and talented broadcasters of his generation.
“Ever since 2016, I have never watched the Olympics and said, ‘Oh, I wish I was there. If I was there, I would say this or that.’ I did a dozen of them. That’s more than enough. I’m happy and proud that I was associated not only with the Olympics, but so many good broadcasts on NBC over the years, and a variety of broadcasts, many of them non-sports.
“But I thought that that was the time to step aside. My only regret is that in the emeritus stage, things got a little sideways with me in NBC, but that’s on, that’s on a better path now.”
Costas took some pointed shots at the IOC during and after his time with NBC. So does he believe that they miss seeing him on TV discussing the Games?
“I would guess not, because every time I got an opportunity, I put pointed questions to the presidents of the IOC,” said Costas. “And the very first commentary I did when I returned to HBO was a pretty pointed takedown of the IOC. And as they were going back to China again, this was 2021, they’re going back to China again in 2022, and by then everybody knew what that represented. What a capitulation that was on the part of the IOC. I would guess that they would just as soon be rid of me.”
Contes asked Costas if he’d ever gotten any pushback or negative reactions from the things he said during Olympics broadcasts. There was one country in particular that wasn’t too happy with his commentary.
“China in 1996,” Costas said. “When I said as the Chinese came in, during the opening ceremony in 1996, was that here’s an economy growing at 10% a year. Every nation including the United States wants in on that economy, as since it was obvious has since been proven. But there are concerns about human rights, there are concerns about the threat to Taiwan. And if there is any nation that has the means and the motivation to replicate the old Eastern bloc sports machine, and all that implies, you’re looking at that nation. And I also mentioned that they hope to host an Olympics. The 2000 Olympics had already been given to Australia and they had not yet been granted 2008. But all those comments were pertinent and they turned out to be accurate.”
“But we know the way the Chinese deal with dissent. Just ask the Houston Rockets when Daryl Morey made a relatively mild comment and all their games were off TV in China for a long time. And the Rockets were a popular team there because of Yao Ming. They took Celtic games off the air after…Enes Kanter made comments about authoritarian regimes including China.
So what happened in 1996 was that they demanded a full public on-air apology from me, to which my response and NBC sports response was, you know, take a hike. Nothing more came of it after that. I mean, there was some stuff in Chinese language newspapers and there was a few protesters, maybe two dozen, outside 30 Rock or something. But you know, that stuff comes with the territory.”
The full episode of The Awful Announcing Podcast with Bob Costas is out now. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. For more content, subscribe to AA’s YouTube page.