Bob Costas steps down as NBC Olympics host, Mike Tirico named as replacement
Longtime NBC Olympics prime-time host Bob Costas will be leaving that role and will be replaced by Mike Tirico.
Costas made the announcement on NBC's Today show on Thursday.
"I am going to be like the rest of the country, watching Mike Tirico, who will be an able successor in Korea for the Winter Olympics” a year from now, "Costas said. "They’ve been kind enough --- and it’s an honor to even have your name in the same sentence --- they’ve been kind enough to call it the Brokaw phase of my career. So I will be to sports what Tom has been for the last several years to news.”
Costas, 64, has been the prime-time Olympics host since the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.
The 50-year-old Tirico was hired by NBC last year after he spent 25 years at ESPN. Tirico's first Olympics host assignment will be the Winter Olympics from Pyeongchang, South Korea next year.
"Someone who I grew up idolizing,'' Tirico said. "I went to Syracuse in large part for college because Bob did. I received a Bob Costas scholarship 30 years ago."
- Scooby Axson
