NBC Sunday Night Football

NBC Sunday Night Football (abbreviated as SNF) is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, which opened that year's preseason. NBC took over the rights to the Sunday prime time game telecasts from ESPN, which carried the broadcasts from 1987 to 2005.

During the 2011–12 season, Sunday Night Football became the first sports program to hold the position as Nielsen's most-watched program on American network television during the year, beating American Idol, which held that honor for eight consecutive seasons beginning in 2004. Sunday Night Football repeated this feat three years running, beginning with the 2013–14 season.

Since 2014, sister cable channel Universo has carried Spanish-language simulcasts of select games. With the former mun2's relaunch on February 1, 2015, Universo began to carry the full season with the start of the 2015 season and simulcast Super Bowl XLIX.

Studio show

Main article: Football Night in America

NBC's broadcast starts at 7 p.m. Eastern Time with a pre-game show that lasts until kickoff, usually around 8:20 p.m. Eastern. This show gives highlights from earlier games and previews the main game. It is shown from NBC Sports studios in Connecticut and also from the game location. Maria Taylor, Chris Simms, Jason Garrett, Devin McCourty, Mike Florio, and Matthew Berry host from the studio, while Jac Collinsworth, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison report from the game site.

In 2021, a post-game show called Peacock Sunday Night Football Final began on NBC's Peacock streaming service. It is currently hosted by Jac Collinsworth, Dungy, and Harrison.

Contract

NBC has a contract for showing NFL games that lasts from 2023 to 2034. During this time, NBC will show special games like the season-opening Thursday night game, a game on Thanksgiving night, and some playoff games. NBC will also show a Sunday night Wild Card game each year from 2021 to 2027.

NBC will show the Super Bowl in 2026, 2030, and 2034. Between 2023 and 2028, NBC has one extra regular-season game each year to show only on Peacock. NBC also shows the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game each August, which starts the NFL’s preseason. Sometimes, when there are Summer Olympics, the Hall of Fame Game is shown on another network.

Scheduling

Further information on each game's results and statistics: List of Sunday Night Football results (2006–present)

Opening game

The first regular season game shown by NBC under this contract, between the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers, aired on September 7, 2006. The first Sunday-night game was between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants on September 10, 2006. The very first game of this run was the 2006 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the Oakland Raiders and the Philadelphia Eagles, televised on August 6, 2006, also on NBC.

Thanksgiving

The first Thanksgiving game shown by NBC, between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets, aired on November 22, 2012. Before that, the primetime Thanksgiving game was shown on NFL Network via Thursday Night Football.

Super Bowl

The first Super Bowl shown by NBC under this contract, Super Bowl XLIII, between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals, aired on February 1, 2009.

Flexible scheduling

NBC Sunday Night Football benefits from the league's flexible-scheduling system. Since the NFL considers SNF to be its featured game of the week, for the final seven weeks of the season (seven of the final eight weeks during the 2006, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2022, and 2023 seasons because of Christmas weekend), the NFL can choose games that are more exciting and usually have playoff implications to air on Sunday night.

Similarities to ABC's NFL coverage

Many of the people who work on NBC's SNF came from ABC/ESPN, including the producer, director, and commentators. NBC kept many of the same styles and traditions from ABC's broadcasts, like having players introduce themselves before the game.

In the early seasons, the commentators would pick a top player each game to receive a special award. This tradition started with another award when one of the commentators worked for a different network. Later, the award was changed, but after the commentator retired, this special award was stopped.

Theme music

Award-winning composer John Williams created the instrumental music for Sunday Night Football, named "Wide Receiver". For Super Bowl XLIII, new instrumental pieces were added by Joel Beckerman, mixing techno and rock with the main melody.

In 2006, singer Pink gave new words to a song by Joan Jett, turning it into the theme "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night". Country singer Faith Hill took over singing the theme in later years. Many singers have performed the theme since then, including Carrie Underwood, who sang a new song called "Oh, Sunday Night" starting in 2016. The theme music has changed a few times over the years to fit different events and seasons.

Show opening

The opening of the show features a special song that has changed a few times over the years.

In the first season, Pink sang while standing on top of a tall building as a helicopter flew over a city skyline. Big players like Shaun Alexander, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Tom Brady appeared on screen, along with a special video screen that looked like the one in Times Square. It showed clips from upcoming games and the show's credits.

In 2007, Faith Hill took over singing the song. She stood on a stage, and important players and announcers like Al Michaels and John Madden arrived in limousines and walked along a red carpet to a pretend theater.

Starting in 2013, Carrie Underwood began singing the theme song. Her first performance was on September 8, 2013.

Graphics

2006–2008

The graphics and logos for NBC's Sunday Night Football games were created by Troika Design Group. This was the first time NBC used permanent score and time boxes during their sports shows, except for Olympic Games. Before 2006, scores were shown only for short periods.

NBC used the same style of score banner at the bottom of the screen that Monday Night Football used in the 2005 season. This style was also used in other NBC sports shows, like Notre Dame football, the Bayou Classic, NHL hockey, tennis, and golf. The Olympics kept a different style.

2009–2011

In the 2009 season, NBC changed its score banner. It now shows the team's colors when they get a touchdown and added timeout indicators. In 2010, the timeout indicators changed, and the play clock moved.

2012–2014

In 2012, NBC updated all its graphics to look the same across all sports. The new style has clearer fonts and uses team colors. The play clock moved next to the down and yardage info in 2014, and a green line was added to show where the ball needs to go.

2015–2017

In 2015, NBC refreshed its graphics with brighter colors. A special set of graphics was made for Thursday Night Football games.

2018–2021

NBC introduced a new graphics style for Sunday Night Football starting with Super Bowl LII. It features a larger, parallelogram-shaped score bar. A new feature called the "green zone" showed a darker green area on the field for key plays, but some people found it distracting.

2022–2025

In 2022, NBC debuted a new graphics package with a pod-like scoreboard in the center of the screen. It includes a circular hub with the game clock and team scores. NBC also introduced a new logo for Sunday Night Football. In 2023, similar graphics were used for college football broadcasts.

2026–present

In January 2026, NBC updated its graphics again for the NFL, keeping the same layout but with slimmer, curved segments for team names.

International broadcasts

In Canada, Sunday Night Football is shown on TSN and CTV 2. In the UK, it is aired by Sky Sports, and in Australia by 7mate.

From 2006 to 2024, Brazil watched on ESPN Brasil, but starting in 2025, Grupo Globo will show the games. In Latin America, ESPN Latin America broadcasts with Álvaro Martín and Raúl Allegre as commentators. The Philippines airs the games on Premier Sports since 2021.

Nielsen ratings

During the first four weeks of the 2010 NFL season, Sunday Night Football had an average of 22.9 million viewers. This was the highest number for the first four weeks of a prime time NFL broadcast in 14 years.

The game between the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys on December 30, 2012, was the most watched Sunday Night Football broadcast ever, with 30.426 million viewers. For the 2013 season, Sunday Night Football averaged 21.9 million viewers, marking the highest average viewership for an NFL prime time broadcast since 1996.