When you've announced everything from games in the now-defunct American Basketball Association to international spectacles like the World Series and the Olympics, there isn't much that your career hasn't covered. But in the case of Bob Costas, who really has been behind the microphone for practically every sporting event we can think of, there remains one wish for the next part of his career.
"I would love to do a season or a chunk of a season of minor league baseball on the radio for nothing other than the love of the craft and to see if I could do it as well as I’d like to think I’d be able to do it," the 69-year-old said on the "Sports Business Radio Podcast" (h/t Ricky Keeler of Barrett Sports Media). "To do even for a short period of time what those voices in the night I used to listen to as a kid. If only to a small audience in some nice minor league city for a season, I would just love doing it for its own sake."
That's not exactly the typical career trajectory for a Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award Winner, but that's what Costas wants. At this stage in his career, he's worried about doing what he enjoys and delivering high quality content to sports fans all over — whether it's a massive audience through MLB Network, or to, say, the devoted fans of High-A Cardinals affiliate, the Peoria Chiefs.
His new HBO show, "Back on the Record with Bob Costas," will debut on Friday night at 11:00 p.m. ET and will check off a lot of the boxes he's looking for right now. He'll sit with close friends and discuss meaningful topics through one of the most respected and high quality production brands in the world. But calling minor league baseball games would check off some other boxes.
"That’s why returning to HBO on a limited basis with their dedication to quality, the longform programming, that suits me well," Costas said. "My role on MLB Network: historical stuff plus occasional play-by-play of games, that’s something that I enjoy.
"It isn’t that I want to do something new or something I haven’t done, I just want to, on a limited basis, concentrate on the things that I most enjoy and I’m best suited to."
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