ESPN’s old NBA theme makes accidental appearance during Spurs-Blazers

Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN ditched its iconic NBA theme music in 2022, but fans clearly aren’t over it.

During a playoff promo over the weekend, ESPN accidentally played the theme. The mistake quickly went viral, with replies full of fans nostalgic for the old theme.

At the time, ESPN vice president of production Tim Corrigan told reporters that changing the theme, along with concurrent changes to the graphic package, was meant to unify professional basketball properties under one consistent “champions” feel.

“That’s the intention for exactly that reason,” Corrigan said in response to a question from Sports Media Watch. “Versus having too many different versions, NBA Today will have a different feel of this, but we kind of came at it with a champion’s version of this from the get-go.”

Much of the criticism of the new theme is not that it is bad, per se, but that it is bland. Some have compared it to royalty-free music. In a press release announcing the change, ESPN called the theme a “hip hop-based concept.”

Here’s the new theme for comparison.

The theme just lacks punch because it’s not particularly catchy or notable. You might find yourself singing the NFL on Fox theme in the shower, but you would never do that with this.

It may simply be time for a total refresh of ESPN’s professional basketball graphics, which haven’t been seriously updated since these changes in 2022. Plus, while the 2022 changes unified NBA, WNBA, and NBA G-League packages, the totally separate college basketball graphics haven’t changed since the 2016-17 season.

ESPN shouldn’t make graphics and theme changes just for the sake of making changes. But this is a case where changing the NBA theme would be a good move for viewers.

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