How ESPN College Football Production and ESPN Music collaborated to bring new SEC on ABC sound to life

Search social media platforms on any given college football Saturday or scroll through YouTube comments on old-school highlights, and the verdict is clear: Fans have thoughts about the music played for sports productions across the media landscape. A similar sentiment was woven throughout the online discourse about a certain classic college football theme: nostalgia.

At 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday – when the new SEC on ABC franchise debuted, ESPN leaned into the memories of the early days of its SEC coverage and proudly presented a re-orchestrated and modern take on one of the classic compositions in college sports.

“The goal at the outset was to honor the tradition and winning legacy of the SEC while creating a unique sound for our production on ABC,” shared Claude Mitchell, coordinating director of music for ESPN Creative Studio. “We considered many ideas looking to balance something new with a classic sports sound. Ultimately, we turned back to one of ESPN’s classic college football themes written by Charles Yassky and Gregory Smith. Bob Christianson brought a refreshed horn approach to the theme alongside several new interpretations to add drama, historical, and rock feels.”

The theme reached its peak popularity in the early 2000s when the SEC on ESPN was in primetime with Ron Franklin, Mike Gottfried, and Adrian Karsten on the mic. ESPN coordinating producer Bill Bonnell, the lead producer on ABC/ESPN’s top game of the week, was in the early days of his ESPN career and remembers the feeling of those broadcasts.

“It harkens back to those SEC primetime games on Saturday nights under the lights,” Bonnell said. “You had Ron Franklin’s amazing voiceovers of SEC home scene sets with this music theme at the top of each broadcast. We’re very excited to bring this theme back home to the SEC, where it belongs.”

The song is a collaboration between the ESPN college football production team, the Southeastern Conference, ESPN Music and Creative Studio, and composer Christianson. The result is a new take on one of the most celebrated tunes in the sport. Christianson is the original composer of the NHL on ESPN theme song, which made its triumphant return in 2021.

“Music can be so hard to gain consensus on,” ESPN Vice President of Production Amanda Gifford commented. “It is very subjective, and music and sports are intricately connected. We were incredibly deliberate with how we approached this process, and we were all eager for this updated track to make a return.”

The new music will be used exclusively on SEC home games on ABC, meaning it can be incorporated into more than just the 3:30 p.m. ET window. SEC home games in primetime during ABC Saturday Night Football and in the ABC noon ET window will also utilize this revamped theme.

For more on SEC on ABC’s theme music, visit ESPN Press Room