{"id":1878200,"date":"2026-04-11T22:11:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T19:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1878200"},"modified":"2026-04-11T22:11:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T19:11:26","slug":"zac-brown-band-steps-up-to-the-plate-for-nbcs-sunday-night-baseball-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1878200","title":{"rendered":"Zac Brown Band Steps Up to the Plate for NBC\u2019s \u2018Sunday Night Baseball\u2019 Opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/zac-brown-band-april-4-2026-billboard-1800.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tTrending on Billboard\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tZac Brown Band now has something in common with Carrie Underwood and Lenny Kravitz.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe three-time Grammy Award-winning southern rock band will star in the opening for NBC\u2019s Sunday night coverage of Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe band\u2019s opening segment will debut on Sunday (April 12) when the Atlanta Braves host the Cleveland Guardians in the first \u201cSunday Night Baseball\u201d game on NBC.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s humbling, honestly, to have our band\u2019s name mentioned in the same breath as theirs in this context means a lot. We\u2019ve spent many years just trying to make music that connects with people, and something like this tells you that it\u2019s reaching further than you ever imagined,\u201d Brown said in an email to The Associated Press<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tZac Brown Band\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tZac Brown Band sings a reimagined version of Emerson, Lake & Palmer\u2019s \u201cKarn Evil 9, 1st Impression Part 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"KID<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tKID PHENOMENON on the Evolution of Expression After SXSW 2026 & Presenting ‘TOKYO NEO POP’ to the World\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Bruno<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tBruno Mars’ The Romantic Tour Setlist: Every Song From Night 1\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Ninajirachi\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\t\t\t\t\tNinajirachi and Porter Robinson Debut New Song at Coachella\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tNBC Sports creative director Tripp Dixon said the song resonated because it features an organ and the first line is \u201cWelcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe majors has often been referred to as \u201cThe Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThose were the two elements we felt like, holy cow, that sounds like something to build this idea around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll three also carry the theme of \u201cwaiting all day for Sunday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUnderwood has done the \u201cSunday Night Football\u201d opening since 2013, a reimagined take on Joan Jett\u2019s 1988 song \u201cI Hate Myself for Loving You\u201d. Kravitz\u2019s opening to \u201cSunday Night Basketball\u201d uses Elvis Presley\u2019s \u201cA Little Less Conversation,\u201d which came out in 1968.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe \u201cSunday Night Baseball\u201d opening was shot in Milwaukee last month. A couple of seconds were featured on NBC\u2019s opening night broadcast between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was one of those experiences where you step back and think, how did we get here? We put everything we had into the performance and then watching it come together with the visuals, the production, it took on a whole new life,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThe folks at NBC Sports really understood the energy we were going for. It felt like a genuine collaboration, and when I finally saw the finished product, I was really proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Dixon had more than a year to think about a \u201cSunday Night Basketball\u201d open, brainstorming about baseball didn\u2019t begin in earnest until last November, when Major League Baseball and NBC agreed to a three-year deal for Sunday night games and the wild-card round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSelfishly, it\u2019s been just a really a fun challenge. But in terms of working with somebody, I think just not only just a familiar song, but we\u2019d worked with Zac in a limited capacity about six years ago when he did a Thursday night tease for us on Thanksgiving,\u201d Dixon said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think just in terms of his music and trying to bring people together, it just felt like really the right fit in terms of letting them put their own spin on a classic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was a very ambitious, tight schedule. We didn\u2019t have a lot of time to put it together, but you wouldn\u2019t know it from what Zac came back with in terms of a song and a performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Sunday\u2019s game, the next six weeks will be on Peacock and NBCSN before NBC takes over from May 31 through Sept. 6.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis week\u2019s game also carries special significance for Brown, who grew up in Georgia and followed the Braves.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMan, that is not lost on me at all. I\u2019m a Georgia boy through and through, so having this debut on a night when the Braves are playing, that\u2019s the kind of thing you just can\u2019t script. Our fans know how much Atlanta means to us. To have this moment tied to our team, in our home state, it really does make it feel full circle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/zac-brown-band-sunday-night-baseball-song-nbc-1236220984\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/zac-brown-band-april-4-2026-billboard-1800.jpg?w=1024″] Trending on Billboard Zac Brown Band now has something in common with Carrie Underwood and Lenny Kravitz. The three-time Grammy Award-winning southern rock band will star in the opening for NBC\u2019s Sunday night coverage of Major League Baseball. The band\u2019s opening segment will debut on Sunday (April 12) when the Atlanta Braves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,226],"class_list":["post-1878200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-billboard-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1878200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1878200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1878200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1878200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}