NBC’s ‘Sunday Night Football’ Kicks Off Season With Logo Change
NBC has new teams leading both “Sunday Night Football” and “Football Night in America.” And it will serve up new logos for both shows as well.
For 16 years, viewers of both football broadcasts have seen their titles arranged in a “shield” design. This season, the programs are getting a new look, with title logos that can be displayed more readily no matter the venue on which each program is being watched.
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“It’s not a one-size-fits-all design direction. It’s far more nimble and less limiting than what a metallic shield was able to offer,” says Mark Levy, the NBC Sports senior vice president of original productions and creative who oversees the design of the division’s programming. “It just offers a flexibility that allos designers and animators a level of creativity” they didn’t have in the past.
When NBC first started broadcasting “Sunday Night Football” in 2006, the games were watched primarily on traditional linear TV. In 2022, the football matchups are also available to stream via Peacock, NBCUniversal’s broadband hub. And fans might interact with clips and highlights that stream in various ancillary programming as well as on social media. “We need to be able to create a variety for short-form content utilizing this logo at the top or bottom of a social post,” notes Levy.
The new design is just the latest change that die-hard football viewers will notice this season. Like its rivals Fox, Amazon and ESPN, NBC Sports is introducing a new team of announcers for “SNF,” which will feature the pairing of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth after the exit of Al Michaels for a job calling “Thursday Night Football” at Amazon’s Prime Video. Tirico and Collinsworth aren’t new to viewers by any stretch, but their official team up week after week will be. Melissa Stark has been recruited as the game broadcast’s new sideline reporter, replacing Michele Tafoya. NBC Sports has also retooled the popular pre-game show “Football Night in America,” putting Maria Taylor in the hosting position and adding former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett as well as fantasy football expert Matthew Berry.
“This is the right time for us to take ‘Sunday Night Football’ to the next level,” says Jenny Storms, NBCUniversal’s chief marketing officer for entertainment and sports. “We have new talent in the booth and on the sidelines, and a fresh broadcast look.”
NBC planned to unveil the new logo Wednesday morning on its “Today” morning show, and to make use of influencers on Tik Tok. The new design will also be projected onto the side of AT&T Stadium in Texas, a display that will be seen as NBC covers the season’s kickoff game Thursday when the Buffalo Bills play the Los Angeles Rams. NBC is also giving gifts with the new design on them to players on the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, says Storms, the teams in the season’s official Sunday opener, in hopes they will show it off on social media.
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