Costas hosted NBC's coverage of the 2008, 2009, and the 2010 NHL Winter Classic. He was scheduled to host coverage of the 2011 event as well but, due to the game's postponement, Costas hosted only pre-game coverage before leaving to go to Seattle for his duties with NBC's NFL coverage the next night. He hosted the event in 2012 as well as a post-game edition of "NHL Live" on the NBC Sports Network. He also hosted coverage of the 2017 NHL Winter Classic in St. Louis marking 5 years since he hosted an NHL outdoor game.