Bob Costas Remembers ... the Great NFL Pregame Wars

The Press Box

The Ringer

Sports

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hello, media consumers! Bryan is joined today by broadcasting legend Bob Costas to discuss the great NFL pregame wars of the 1980s and 1990s. They dive into everything, starting with him becoming the host of NBC’s pregame show in 1984. Next, they discuss Bob’s competition before turning to what made NBC’s show special (07:42). They continue by going through Bob’s pregame costars and his memories from working with them (26:042). Lastly, the show wraps up with Bob explaining why he stepped back from the pregame desk (43:36). All that and so much more, here on The Press Box. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, media consumers.
0:07.0	Welcome to Pressbox.
0:08.3	You've got Brian Curtis.
0:09.8	You've got producer Bruce Baldwin.
0:11.7	And today you have a very special guest.
0:14.7	It's Bob Costas.
0:16.5	The last time Bob Costas was here,
0:18.2	we talked about the glory days of the NBA on NBC.
0:22.4	Well, this time around, I asked Costas to revisit another fascinating corner of sports TV history,
0:29.0	the great NFL pregame wars of the 1980s and 90s.
0:34.3	Now, sports television today has the occasional head-to-head matchup, ESPN's College Game Day versus Fox's big new kickoff, for instance.
0:43.4	The 1980s NFL pregame wars were way more fun. CBS's pregame show, which was the ratings leader in the category, was hosted by Brent Musburger.
0:53.8	On the other side of the dial,
0:55.4	NBC's insurgent pregame show was hosted by Costas. CBS had a cast that included a former
1:02.2	Miss America and a bookmaker named Jimmy the Greek. NBC had Ahmad Rashad, O.J. Simpson, Frank
1:08.7	DeFord, even Larry King. There was a marriage proposal made to a
1:13.4	famous actress on NBC's air, a live studio audience, a producer named John Philippelli, otherwise
1:20.0	known as Flip, who filled the paper with wicked quotes about the competition. And playing
1:25.7	quarterback for NBC during these very fun years of television
1:29.0	was Costas.
1:30.9	So as you begin your Thanksgiving
1:33.0	football binge, kick back in the
	...

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