The Loop
If ESPN, the future home of all SEC football, doesn’t get the “SEC on CBS” theme song, we riot
Lance King
Earlier this morning, we told you about Disney’s big Thursday. A zillion new Star Wars, a trillion new Avengers, and, of course, the piece de la resistance: A brand-new ‘Mighty Ducks’ Disney Plus series. But lost amongst the youth hockey and intergalactic swashbuckling, at least for the casual sports fan, was the announcement that, beginning in 2024-25, ESPN and ABC will become the exclusive home of SEC football, leaving CBS without a Power Five conference to call its own. It’s a seismic football broadcasting shift not seen since NBC’s NFL breakup back in the ‘90s, but when the dust settled and the smoke cleared, college football fans had but one question:
What is going to happen to the “SEC on CBS” theme song?!
That very question was poised to ESPN Executive Vice President for Programming Acquisitions and Scheduling Burke Magnus on Thursday, and he had this to say.
"I've been asked this every time. I understand. I enjoy it. It's iconic. I'm not in the music business, but if not (that song) I'm confident we will come up with an awesome presentation."
That, folks, is a big ol’ hedge if we’ve ever seen one. And you can’t blame the guy. He’s being asked what theme song the network is going to use on broadcasts that won’t begin for another four years. This is an answer he just doesn’t have yet. Hell, at this rate, he won’t even be an ESPN employee by June, let alone October 2024. But there is one precedent within our own neck of the woods that we can turn to for reassurance.
“Augusta.”
The Masters theme song, written by Dave Loggins, has been a fixture of the Masters broadcast since 1982, and when ESPN took up broadcast duties for early-round coverage of the Masters in 2008, the tune came with them. Here’s hoping the same can be said for the “SEC on CBS” theme, because Saturdays just won’t be the same without it.