Musicians Chris Stapleton, Snoop Dogg and drummer Cindy Blackman Santana’s cover version of Phil Collins’ chart-topping 1981 classic, “In the Air Tonight,” is the new theme song of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” the cabler announced on Monday.
The collab premiered ahead of both Monday night games: The Saints at Panthers game, which started at 7:15 p.m. ET on ESPN, and the Browns vs. Steelers game, which began at 8:15 pm ET on ABC. Country star Stapleton’s song “White Horse,” the first single off his upcoming album “Higher,” was previously featured on MNF.
Earlier this year, Stapleton performed a moving version of the national anthem at the Super Bowl. In 2022, Snoop Dogg teamed with Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and Mary J. Blige for a halftime show that paid homage to the history of hip-hop.
“In the Air Tonight” already has its fans in the NFL. Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin played it for the Steelers the night before they won Super Bowl XLIII in 2009.
“It was fascinating to me to see how one song could get you in that mode to go kick some tail,” said two-time Super Bowl champion Hines Ward in an ESPN story about the song.
Saturday was the 29th anniversary of the premiere of Michael Mann’s genre-defining series “Miami Vice,” which used the Collins hit in a night-time scene where stars Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas drive to a fateful meeting.
In his 2006 big-screen remake of “Miami Vice,” Mann used Nonpoint’s more rock-centric 2004 cover of the iconic song.
ABC just added Monday Night Football to fill out its fall schedule as the WGA and SGA-AFTRA strikes continue.
“Heavy Action,” the current instrumental theme music of MNF, will still be part of the show, according to ESPN.
“Monday Night Football,” “Monday Night Countdown” and Peyton and Eli Manning’s podcast are all getting new logos, music themes and score bugs this season.
