Longtime sports newser Bob Costas has brought his unique insights to CNN in recent weeks, appearing across network programming to speak about sports-focused issues, including how the pandemic has impacted the start of the sports season and the renaming of the Washington pro football franchise.
The network announced today that Costas is officially a CNN contributor.
“Bob Costas is a legendary, respected voice across the spectrum of sports and beyond,” CNN president and WarnerMedia News and Sports chairman Jeff Zucker said. “As the world continues to change amid the coronavirus pandemic, we are confident that Bob’s insightful analysis will help our viewers better understand what the future holds as the sports and teams we love evolve to meet this moment.”
Costas added: “I’m very pleased to join CNN’s roster of journalists and commentators. CNN’s willingness to devote time and attention to sports related topics makes it a good fit for me.”
The Costas-Zucker connection goes back decades to when both were key figures of NBC’s Olympics coverage in the 1990s.
In fact, the NBC Newser-turned-CNN boss was Costas’ researcher at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Zucker feted Costas at the 2019 Syracuse Mirror Awards, saying “I was 23 years old and working with Bob was my first real job in television. … We have remained colleagues and friends for over 30 years and I’ve never met someone more talented.”
Costas’ resume is unparalleled.
The face of NBC Sports for decades, he is the only person ever to have won Emmy’s in news, sports and entertainment. He earned a news Emmy in 2011 for his reports on Jerry Sandusky, the central figure in the Penn State football scandal. His entertainment Emmy came in 1993 for his HBO late-night program Later With Bob Costas.
In 2012, Costas was elected to the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, and in the summer of 2018, he was inducted into the broadcasters’ wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
From the Baseball Game of the Week in the 1980s, through his hosting of NBC’s Olympics, the late-night interview show Later With Bob Costas and his programs on HBO, Costas has been a prominent part of the coverage of every major sport over the past three decades, including hosting seven Super Bowls and contributing to the coverage as either play-by-play announcer or host of seven World Series and 10 NBA Finals.