As he does nearly every fall Saturday afternoon, Roy Kramer will take his place in the living room of his Tennessee
home to observe a now 27-year-old tradition that he helped start.
The religious experience begins promptly at 3:30 p.m. ET, bursting forth from his television’s speakers. High-pitched
horns and thundering snare drums. Sixteen defining notes and a chorus of voices.
The tune rises to a spine-tingling crescendo of percussion and brass as side-by-side acronyms appear on the screen:
SEC on CBS.
To refer to it as theme music is a disservice, almost disrespectful, to the many fans who have seen their beloved
Southern college football teams compete on the field for nearly three decades.
“There’s a sense of emptiness in seeing the CBS logo leave the SEC,” remarked Kramer, the former SEC
Commissioner. But times change. The conference has taken a significant step toward the future. When looking back
over that time period, the relationship between the SEC and CBS was significant for both.
The network will carry its final SEC doubleheader over the course of eight hours on Saturday. Georgia faces Missouri
at 3:30 p.m. ET, with the SEC East Division lead on the line; Alabama plays LSU at 7:45 p.m., with the SEC West
Division lead at stake.
In the final year of the league’s divisional setup, the two games will shape the championship race, all leading up to
the SEC title game in Atlanta, which will be CBS’ final SEC football broadcast as its 15-year relationship with the
league ends.
Nearly 30 years ago, the SEC, a developing football power conference, and CBS, dabbling in college football, formed
one of the most important alliances in the sport’s history, with both leveraging the other to become a dominant duo
within the industry.
For 14 consecutive seasons, CBS’ weekly SEC game at 3:30 p.m. ET has been the highest-rated regular-season college
football package on any network.
“I think CBS took a regional product, partnered it with the great play of the conference, and made it a national
brand,” said Gary Danielson, CBS’s main color analyst since 2006. “It was 3:30.” It was destination television. It was
SEC on CBS.”
The narrative of the SEC and CBS is a winding one that began as a joyful marriage, grew turbulent, and eventually
ended in divorce during renewal discussions in 2020. For three years, they’ve coexisted, aware of their impending
separation and new dance partners — CBS with the Big Ten and the SEC with ESPN.
But the splits began more than a decade ago, festering within the Southeast footprint, most notably chapping the
league’s former commissioner, Mike Slive, and a group of presidents, many of whom are now retired and free to
express their minds.
