Now that NBC has re-secured the NBA’s television rights, the fan-favorite theme song, “Roundball Rock,” could be making a comeback.
NBCUniversal reportedly offered the NBA $2.5 billion per year to acquire the rights it lost to Disney more than 20 years ago. According to the Wall Street JournalThat deal is reportedly double Warner Bros. Discovery’s reported offer of $1.2 billion.
The league Announced that Warner Bros. Discovery did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer, paving the way for a “long-term agreement with Amazon.”
With NBCUniversal winning the bidding war, NBA fans will surely be sad to lose TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” but the silver lining would be the return of “Roundball Rock,” everyone’s favorite NBA theme song.
Will NBC bring back ‘Roundball Rock’?
“Roundball Rock” creator John Tesh confirmed the return of the theme song if and when NBC strikes a deal for new NBA television rights.
“At the end of June we’re heading to Nashville, we’ve got a full orchestra on standby and we’re going to re-record it,” Tesh told the “Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” on May 21.
BREAKING: NBC has reached out to John Tesh about reviving the iconic NBA on NBC theme song ‘Roundball Rock’ amid NBA rights deal negotiations.
“At the end of June we’re heading to Nashville, we’ve got a full orchestra on standby and we’re going to re-record it.”https://t.co/J2Tb1XxPY9 image.twitter.com/F6YUXSRpk4
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) May 21, 2024
He also mentioned that NBC plans to use his theme song for the Paris Olympics as well.
“Roundball Rock” hasn’t brought fans to an NBA game since 2002.
The rights to the theme song were acquired by Fox Sports for use in college basketball during the 2018-19 season, but the deal “does not preclude any media company from using the song for NBA games,” Tesh said. he told CNBC in an interview in April.
With the return of the NBA to NBC on the horizon, so is everyone’s favorite basketball theme song.
Who wrote ‘Roundball Rock’?
John Tesh is the author and owner of “Roundball Rock,” the former NBA theme song on NBC.
About 15 years ago, Tesh told a concert-goer the story of how he came up with the song. He was sitting in a hotel room and didn’t have access to a piano, so he had to call his home answering machine and leave himself a reminder message, trying to mimic the melody with his voice.
The result was the world-famous NBA tune.
Tesh told CNBC he couldn’t reveal how much he was (or will be) paid for the song due to a confidentiality agreement, but noted that he receives royalties based on the number of streams the song gets.
Since then, the song has become a staple of NBA culture and its popularity has transcended sports. “Saturday Night Live” did an entire sketch with the song that resurfaces every year around the NBA Playoffs.
