It’s official. The SEC on CBS is no more.
Instead, the Big Ten will take over that national broadcast slot at a reported cost of between $7 and $10 billion — billion with a “b!” — to broadcast titanic college football battles like Ohio State-Michigan, Wisconsin-Penn State and Rutgers-UCLA. The looming media rights deal that shook up conference realignment once more and threw the future of the Pac-12 into limbo paid off in a massive way and may not be done just yet.
That doesn’t mean CBS didn’t celebrate it’s newest avenue to ply America with commercials for laugh-tracked sitcoms no one wants to watch. Behold, the SEC on CBS theme music, it’s needle dropped here as though someone laid the “Thriller” Vincent Price breakdown over two minutes of the “Achy Breaky Heart” video.
Hello, @B1Gfootball.
Hit the music. pic.twitter.com/PbMHPql1Cz— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) August 18, 2022
It’ll feel more natural as the season wears on and we watch it every Saturday afternoon. But for now, it’s an unholy mashup pitting team speed against grinding run games. Fans took notice.