On the final Sunday of the 1999 NFL season, Chris Berman reminded "NFL Primetime" viewers that both the Packers and Panthers needed more points. Photo Credit: ESPN Photo Credit: ESPN
By Matt Yoder on

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With ESPN now owning NFL Network, we’ve already seen plenty of crossover between the two networks. And that includes in the music for highlights.

NFL Network and other assets are now under the ESPN umbrella in exchange for the league owning a 10% equity stake in the worldwide leader. It’s fair to acknowledge that it has led to less competition and fewer voices in the space, as some jobs and roles have been eliminated. And there will always be questions about ESPN’s editorial independence with this setup.

ESPN has cut efforts that create duplication. Several personalities are now working at both networks. And on Monday nights, NFL Network now simulcasts the ESPN broadcast of Monday Night Countdown.

But one area where football fans won’t complain that NFL Network draws from ESPN is in the music department. And during Week 1, fans were in for a cool surprise during NFL GameDay when the highlights were set to the iconic tunes of NFL Primetime.

Any highlight package is bettered ten times over with the classic tracks from the greatest highlight show that there ever was.

NFL Primetime aired on ESPN from 1987-2005, with Chris Berman and Tom Jackson being the predominant stars. It was the go-to place for a generation of NFL fans when highlights weren’t always so easily accessible and was appointment viewing each Sunday night. However, Primetime came to an end when ESPN lost the rights to NBC to show highlights on their new Sunday Night Football pregame show.

Some fans may not realize that NFL Primetime is back in largely its original form as a streaming show on ESPN Unlimited. It was re-launched in 2019 with Berman and Jackson and now features Booger McFarland in the analyst chair. But for those who may forget about all the streaming options at their disposal, it was still a nice surprise to hear a beloved voice walk down memory lane and know it has a bigger platform once again.

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