Bob Costas on Olympic Transgender Ban: ‘Common Sense'

Bob Costas has never been shy about sharing his political opinions, but almost always from a decidedly liberal perspective. However, on Thursday night, the longtime baseball announcer threw fans a curveball by sharing what can safely be called “common sense.”

During an interview on CNN with Elex Michaelson, the longtime Olympics host gave his take on the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision announced earlier on Thursday to ban males from competing in women’s sports categories.

To Costas, the decision made sense.

“There are people who use this issue cynically for political purposes, and they’re demonizing people who happen to be trans who should be treated with respect and dignity and understanding, “Costas said. “However, common sense is not transphobic. There’s a reason why the high school champions don’t compete with the college champions. There is a reason why no trans man who was once a woman and has become a man has ever competed successfully with men in the Olympics.”

To illustrate his point, Costas used the example of WNBA sensation Caitlin Clark.

“If Caitlin Clark could play in the NBA, everybody would applaud it. That would be an incredible thing. But if the last guy on the bench of an NBA team went to a WNBA team and started averaging 40 points, everybody would know that is BS.”

The longtime voice of NBC Sports then cited the example of former collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas, an exceedingly average male swimmer, who moved to the women’s category and smashed long-held records.

“There is a reason why there is men’s and women’s sports and why Title IX was one of the truly progressive pieces of legislation in the best sense of the word progressive under the Nixon administration,” Costas added. “It changed everything. I had a sister who never played a single organized sport. One generation later, two children of my own, my daughter played just about as many organized sports as my son. That’s a great thing. It doesn’t make any sense to have a swimmer who was the 472nd-ranked swimmer when he was a man at Penn either winning or coming close to winning against women a year and a half after transitioning. If that’s what the person wants to do, that person should be treated with dignity and respect. But there ought to be common sense, and common sense is not transphobic.”

While it’s unclear if Costas will handle any Olympic duties in 2028, he is currently hosting Sunday Night Baseball for NBC.