Bob Costas Is Reportedly In Talks To Exit NBC

Sports announcer Bob Costas is negotiating his exit from NBC after nearly 40 years with the network, a source “with knowledge of the conversations” told USA Today on Tuesday.

His contract runs through 2021.

Costas declined to comment on specifics of the situation but talked to the newspaper about his tenure at NBC more generally.

“There was a very long period of time when NBC’s programming suited my interests and abilities very well, from [late-night talk show] ‘Later,’ to the news magazines, to baseball, the NBA and the Olympics,” Costas said. “And after deciding on my own to leave the Olympics after having done a dozen of them, you just look around and say, ‘What was once a perfect fit no longer fits that description.’”

Costas, 66, wants to pursue an interview show that will stretch beyond sports, the New York Post reported . He made it somewhat obvious that the network he has called home since 1979 is not likely to be in his long-term future.

“Sometimes you get to a point where it is not a fit anymore,” Costas told the tabloid. “It doesn’t mean that anyone is angry or upset.”

He’s been the lead announcer for the Olympics, World Series and Super Bowls but as evidence grew of football’s link to long-term brain damage, he soured on the sport. 

“The reality is that this game destroys people’s brains ,” he said in 2017.

Sports Illustrated noted that last season was Costas’ first year in which he was absent from NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” broadcast.