Following his notable absence from last season鈥檚 Super Bowl, longtime NBC personality Bob Costas appears to be looking for an exit after nearly 40 years as the network鈥檚 most-prominent sports broadcaster.
A source confirmed a report from the New York Post鈥檚 Andrew Marchand that Costas and NBC are in discussions for an early exit from a multi million-dollar contract that runs through 2021.
The move doesn鈥檛 come as much of a surprise. After stepping down from his prime-time hosting role for the 2018 Olympics and being replaced during the network鈥檚 coverage of Super Bowl LII by Liam McHugh, NBC has hardly turned to Costas on air over the past year outside of brief appearances during Triple Crown coverage.
NBC declined to comment about the negotiations.
Costas couldn鈥檛 immediately be reached but told Marchand he was interested in doing a show that would take a critical look at sports and other topics.
鈥淪ometimes you get to a point where it is not a fit anymore,鈥� Costas said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 mean that anyone is angry or upset.鈥�
Costas has had a strained relationship with football after having become an outspoken critic over the NFL鈥檚 response to concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (often referred to as CTE), a neurological disease caused by repetitive brain trauma.
Back in November, Costas made headlines when he suggested that the league could collapse if new technology isn鈥檛 developed to make the sport safer and that the NFL鈥檚 apparent delaying tactic of continuing to study the dangers of football will end up only hurting the league more.
鈥淭he whole thing could collapse like a house of cards if people actually begin connecting the dots,鈥� Costas said.
In an era in which the NFL is trying to avoid political controversy over the issue of protests during the national anthem, Costas has always been willing to take the intersections of sports and politics head-on.
Over the years, he has used his prominent platform on NBC to discuss controversial issues ranging from gun violence to the racist nature of the 鈥淩edskins.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e always felt one can appreciate the history, drama and romance of sports, while at the same time being aware of and addressing the issues involved in sports. To me, there鈥檚 no contradiction in that,鈥� Costas said in an interview last year.
