If you were planning to boycott coverage of the upcoming Winter Olympics to avoid the political bloviating of Bob Costas, you might want to tune in. He won't be occupying the NBC host's chair, and his successor is a broadcaster who aims to be "invisible" and stick to sports. Costas, at right in photo, has passed the host's torch on to Mike Tirico, on the left in photo, formerly of ESPN and Monday Night Football.
A Sports Business Daily interview with Tirico Friday reveals the new host of the Winter Olympics isn't as likely as his predecessor to get political on the air. Tirico said it would be his responsibility to document any protests that may occur, but he would not offer his personal opinions on such actions.
Sports Business Daily wrote of Tirico:
"New NBC primetime Olympics host Mike Tirico said viewers can expect less politics out of him at the Pyeongchang Games compared to his predecessor. Bob Costas, who anchored NBC’s Olympics coverage from ’92-’16, memorably slammed the Russian government’s aggressive foreign policy and poor human rights record at the ’14 Sochi Games and also made it a point at the ’08 Beijing Games to recall the Tiananmen Square massacre with a live stand-up shot from the site.
'Tirico said he will carry a softer touch. 'I’m much more a believer of ‘Here are the facts, you decide,’ Tirico said. 'I don’t want to say (more) than Bob, but just in general, that’s my approach to most of these things. You don’t see me in 27, 28 years doing a lot of commentary within sports on ‘The NFL should do this,’ or ‘How dare the NBA.’ If I have an opinion, I will suggest a line of questioning, perhaps look to carve out a little bit of space to say something. But I’m of the opinion, especially here at the start, that people aren’t coming to watch the Games to watch me.”
Alex Putterman took up the topic of NBC's new Olympic host on the blog Awful Announcing. He mentioned the frustration that fans have with media who won't stick to sports, that Costas ruffled feathers with his politicizing of past Olympic Games (and let me add NFL coverage as well with his talk of gun control), and that Tirico may keep enough people happy with dispassionate talk of any protests.
There certainly could be some protests, thanks to you-know-who, Putterman suggests:
"The Olympics almost always feature some political undercurrents, and given the recent wave of athlete activism and strong feelings all around about the presidency of Donald Trump, those storylines could jump to the forefront next month. Whether or not the upcoming Games feature a Tommie Smith/John Carlos moment, there’s a strong chance we see some sort of demonstration, small or large."
Unlike Costas, Tirico is an upbeat broadcaster who says he doesn't want to be the story. Last summer he told The New York Times' Juliet Macur, "I’m not into the whole opinion thing. Where I’m rooted is in the games. I just love watching the games.”
Macur wrote of Tirico that "he strives to be an invisible narrator. It is an old-school notion, but Tirico’s shtick is that he doesn’t have a shtick — and that might just be why he appeals to such a broad audience."
Perhaps the most controversial thing Tirico is known for saying was the time he said, while stressing his Italian heritage, he wasn't even sure if he's black. “Why do I have to check any box?” he asked Macur. “If we live in a world where we’re not supposed to judge, why should anyone care about identifying?”
Tirico is definitely an upgrade over Costas, but there's no guarantee that NBC venue reporters and feature stories won't go political.
