costello was a member of the international ice hockey federation council from 1998 to 2012, after retiring from hockey canada. he served as chairman of the medical committee all 14 years, chairman of the under-20 committee from 1998-2003, chairman of the technical/arena committee from 2003–08, vice president of the iihf from 2008–12, chairman of the competition committee from 2008–12, sat on the iihf hall of fame committee, and the statutes & bylaws committee. as part of the committees, he oversaw the inspection of winter olympic games ice hockey facilities on behalf of the international olympic committee, helped organize international under-20 tournaments, oversaw random drug testing, and promoted growth of ice hockey worldwide. costelo resigned as vice president of the iihf, effective september 30, 2012. he later remarked that "the iihf is very much a european organization. i don’t think they would give it (presidency) to a north american or russian. it would give canada too much power."