“All the leagues, all they have to sell is the integrity of the competition. If [sports betting] affects the outcome, or the perception of the outcome, that’s going to be a problem.”

Legendary sports broadcaster Bob Costas joined the “Crisis Communications in Sports” podcast for a special edition that examined the scores of new challenges that have arisen in the sports world as a result of legalized sports betting.

Hosts Jim Rocco and Cris Bruce asked the Sports Broadcasting Hall-of-Famer to share his insight on the ways he sees sports betting affecting the games we love to watch.

“You can’t ignore the gigantic infusion of revenue that legalized gambling has meant to every league and every sports entity,” Costas said. “The very leagues that used to say that legalized gambling would be the death of sports as we know it, not only now accept it, but they embrace it and encourage it.”

A 2018 Supreme Court ruling has led to legalized sports betting in 38 states and counting. That, coupled with smartphone technology, has made sports betting more convenient for fans than it has ever been at any point in history. This new normal presents unprecedented challenges for leagues, commissioners, coaches, officials, the athletes themselves, and of course, fans.

“You can see the commissioners getting together with the various betting sites and saying, let’s see if we can pull back on the aspects of this that are most problematic,” Costas said.

Over the course of his illustrious sports broadcasting career, Bob Costas has served as a play-by-play voice and studio host for Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games. He has won 29 Emmy Awards and is the only person in television history to have won Emmys for sports, news and entertainment. Costas was a 2018 inductee into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Bob Costas on PRCG | Sports’ “Crisis Communications in Sports” podcast, or watch the full video on YouTube, here. You can also follow us on Twitter @SportsComms_Pod, LinkedIn, or subscribe to our YouTube Channel.