ABC and ESPN are bringing back a classic for the 2024 college football season.
The SEC will no longer be available on CBS. The network opted not to renew a contract with the powerful football conference a few years ago, so now there’s a new home for the SEC. The conference, featuring massive programs such as Alabama, Georgia, Florida, LSU and Auburn, will now find itself on ABC for its primetime games.
When you think of sports on television, each channel has a tune to go with it. Television platforms have created iconic songs that have become synonymous with their product, and now that once again applies to college football on ABC.
This year, ESPN chose to revitalize its classic college football theme song from the late 1990s and early 2000s, ushering in a new era of college football on ABC. The song will debut on Saturday, August 31 during the Miami vs. Florida and Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M games.
Here’s more information on ABC and ESPN’s new college football theme song.
DECOURCY: Why the 12-team College Football Playoff means the 2024 season will be the best ever
ABC College Football Theme Song, Explained
Ahead of the 2024 NCAA football season, ESPN announced that the network was revamping its college football theme song from nearly 30 years ago for use with the launch of SEC on ABC.
In his press releaseESPN said the “dynamic musical composition will bring the nostalgia, pageantry and passion of the SEC’s early years on ESPN to a new generation of college football fans and ABC viewers.”
“Music is a crucial element in shaping the storytelling of any show,” said Burke Magnus, president of content at ESPN. “The opportunity to resurrect a theme song that means so much to college football fans, and to many of us at ESPN, was important as we begin this new chapter in our relationship with the SEC.”
The revitalized theme “represents a collaboration between the SEC, ESPN Music, ESPN’s college football production team and composer Bob Christianson, who also created ESPN’s popular NHL theme,” according to ESPN’s press release.
MORE: Sporting News Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Composite Top 25
“By reaching back to the past and connecting to the present, ESPN brings a touch of tradition to a new era of SEC televised sports,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “This re-orchestrated lineup will enhance the presentation of SEC football on ABC by bringing a bit of nostalgia to the new SEC Saturday television experience.”
You can listen to the new theme below.
Fans of the early 2000s will recognize elements of the new theme music tune used when ESPN presented primetime SEC football on Saturdays. Additionally, the song was used in EA Sports NCAA 14, which was the final edition of the college football video game before the release of EA Sports College Football 25 earlier this year.
This is what ESPN’s old college football theme song sounded like.
ESPN previously entered into a new 10-year media rights agreement with the SEC, which makes ABC and the ESPN platforms the exclusive home of SEC football.
