Fans began rooting for a romance between the former ‘Today’ anchor and the actor after he stopped by the morning show in July

Kevin Costner and Hoda Kotb at Super Bowl LIX 2025 in New Orleans, LA. Photo: hodakotb/Instagram

The 2025 Super Bowl brought many celebrities together, including Hoda Kotb and Kevin Costner.

After the two were being “shipped” by fans last summer, the former Today anchor and New Orleans native, 60, attended the Feb. 9 game at Caesars Superdome and ran into the Yellowstone actor, 70.

Kotb included a photo with Costner in an Instagram post following the game — and the reunion got her former colleagues Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager excited.

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“New couple alert cc @jennabushager 🚨,” Guthrie commented on Kotb’s post, joking about her and Costner being an item.

Bush Hager was on board too, as she replied to Guthrie’s comment, “We have been waiting for this moment ❤️ .”

The joke about Kotb (who separated from fiancé Joel Schiffman in 2022) and Costner (who finalized his divorce from Christine Baumgartner last February) first caught the Today show alum’s attention during a visit to Watch What Happens Live in July.

When a fan asked Kotb how she felt about viewers “shipping” her and Costner after he stopped by the show the prior month, she was totally surprised. “I have never heard that, not one time,” she said.

She joked, though, that “if the viewers want it,” she’d do it.

In January, days before her exit from Today, Bush Hager brought up the actor again as the fourth-hour co-hosts talked about what to wear on a date.

“If you’re going out with Kevin Costner…” Bush Hager teased, advising Kotb to “take those Spanx off” should she ever go on a date with the Oscar winner.

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Hoda Kotb on ‘Today’ on December 19, 2023.Nathan Congleton/NBC/Getty

Before joining the Today show, Kotb worked as an anchor and reporter for local New Orleans CBS affiliate WWL. Over the years, she has shown her support for the New Orleans Saints and gave the commencement speech at the local Tulane University in 2006.

“It’s the closest to a hometown I’ve ever felt,” Kotb told Southern Living of New Orleans in June 2024. “There’s a magnetism about New Orleans that grabs you right out the gate.”

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Last month, Kotb ended her tenure on the Today show after 17 years. On her final day on the NBC news program, she shared her heartfelt thank you.

“Can I just say thank you real quick?” Kotb said. “Can I just say thank you to every person who came out here? I read your cards. I got your bracelets I got the scarves you crocheted. I read the texts. I got everything. So I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you for coming out, for being here and for everything you did.”

While she plans to spend time with daughters Haley, 8, and Hope, 5, following her Today departure, the TV personality has shown no signs of slowing down professionally.

She previously opened up a future role in the “wellness space” and on Feb. 5, she teased her new project with former HGTV star Joanna Gaines on Instagram.

“Remember I was talking about repotting — gotta take first steps,” the journalist captioned a new series of photos. “We have something fun cooking! Come along on the great adventure…..Stay tunedI love @joannagaines.”