NFL On NBC Music - 1990s

1990s

Starting in 1989, NBC commissioned musician (and then-Entertainment Tonight co-host) John Tesh, who had composed "Roundball Rock" for the debut of The NBA on NBC to compose a new theme, called "Gridiron Dreams" which lasted until 1991. The versions used on the pre-game show are different than the version supplied on Tesh's albums. For the 1992 season, John Colby composed a theme only used that year through the 1992 AFC Championship Game in which the Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins 29-10.

For Super Bowl XXVII, NBC debuted a new theme again composed by John Colby. This would be used during the 1993 season. During the 1993 season, they also debuted another Colby composed theme for the NFL Live! pregame show. This theme would be used for the next two seasons. Starting with Super Bowl XXVIII and continuing until the end of the 1994 NFL season, NBC used another theme for their actual game introduction.

Starting in 1995, NBC unveiled a new theme composed by veteran composer Randy Edelman which was used for both their pregame show (now simply titled The NFL on NBC) and during the game. This theme would be used until the end of the 1997 season, including Super Bowl XXXII between the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers. NBC lost AFC television rights after 1997 to CBS which currently has them today. The NFL would not return to NBC until 2006 for Sunday Night Football. NBC still uses the 1995-1997 era theme, but only for Sunday Night Football online (dubbed NBC Sunday Night Football Extra) if you open the feed prior to the game start time.