Courtesy MLB.com

(August 27, 2009) NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, announcing Wednesday that Bob Costas will host Sunday night NFL coverage from game sites rather than at the New York studio, suggested viewers should prepare to be awestruck.
He said Costas, along with game announcers Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, form an "incredible trio of talent." No, make that "a treasure trove of talent." Hold on, they're really a "trio of talent unsurpassed probably in the history of television." And Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann, back in the NBC studio, "are the sports studio tag team of all time."

And you thought John Madden's exit might hurt NBC.

It might seem almost unfair that other networks are expected to compete with such a lineup. But the latest midcourse correction step in NBC's Sunday night pregame show, which starts at 7 ET, comes as it has yet to deliver a treasure trove of ratings on TV's most-watched night. Partly, that's because NBC can't air NFL highlights until 7:15 and goes against the end of games on CBS or Fox. And when Fox has national NFL doubleheaders, NBC's pregame goes against Fox's postgame shows and CBS' 60 Minutes.

Actually, Ebersol says NBC does not have a pregame show because "a pregame show is where you spend an inordinate amount of time trying to predict what's going to happen in a game. These guys aren't hype masters. ... This won't be a comedy show of guesswork." (Fox and ESPN must feel darn droopy about now.)

Ebersol says putting Costas on-site makes a game "a bigger event." Collinsworth, recalling NBC's 2008 Olympics, agrees: "He got a police escort in Beijing like he was president of the United States. ... When you see Bob Costas, you know it's something big!"

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