When SEC football fans tune in to ABC this season to watch their favorite teams play, they will be greeted with a familiar tune.
On Thursday, ESPN unveiled the theme song for the SEC on ABC, a score that is a reworked version of ESPN’s college football theme song from the late 1990s and early 2000s.
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The song was composed by composer Bob Christianson, who, among other things, created the famous theme song for ESPN’s NHL coverage.
You can listen to the whole song here:
ESPN and the SEC signed a 10-year media rights deal in 2020 that takes effect this season. ESPN and its various affiliates have already broadcast SEC games, but the new deal includes ABC, which will air SEC games for the first time on its weekly “Saturday Night Football” slot and will also broadcast the SEC Championship Game.
“By reaching into the past and connecting it to the present, ESPN is bringing a touch of tradition to a new era of televised SEC sports,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement. “This newly orchestrated composition will enhance the presentation of SEC football on ABC by bringing a bit of nostalgia to the SEC’s new Saturday television experience.”
These moves come as the SEC takes a less prominent role on CBS, the network with which the league was synonymous for decades. Instead, the SEC’s usual spot in the afternoon kickoff window on CBS will go to the Big Ten, which signed a seven-year, $7 billion media rights deal with three networks – CBS, NBC and Fox – in August 2022. The deal was signed shortly after the conference announced it would add USC and UCLA.
