Thirteen NFL players will join six-time Grammy Award-winner and multi-platinum recording artist Carrie Underwood for her performance of “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night,” the opening theme for primetime television’s No. 1 program, Sunday Night Football on NBC.
Underwood makes her debut on NBC’s first SNF broadcast of the 2013 NFL season as the Dallas Cowboys host their NFC East rival New York Giants. Coverage begins with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET, and the opening theme will continue each week of the season to kick off Sunday Night Football.
Thirteen NFL players, who have accounted for 55 Pro Bowl selections, six Super Bowl rings and four Super Bowl MVP trophies, will participate in the open (six, denoted with an asterisk*, took part in a shoot this past June). Following is the complete list:
• Arizona Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald
• New Orleans TE Jimmy Graham
• Detroit Lions WR Calvin Johnson
• Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck
• New York Giants QB Eli Manning
• Denver Broncos QB Peyton Manning
• Green Bay Packers LB Clay Matthews
• Philadelphia Eagles RB LeSean McCoy
• Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers
• Baltimore Ravens LB Terrell Suggs
• Dallas Cowboys DE DeMarcus Ware
• Houston Texans DE J.J. Watt
• San Francisco 49ers LB Patrick Willis
“Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” is set to the original Joan Jett song, “I Hate Myself for Loving You” and marks Underwood’s first production with NBC Sports. From 2007-2012, the song was performed by music superstar Faith Hill and in 2006, the inaugural season of Sunday Night Football, Pink performed the open.
Earlier this summer, NBC held “open auditions” to find the new voice for the Sunday Night Football theme song. See what happens when stars like Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Joan Rivers, Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Natalie Morales, Jillian Michaels, Billy Bush, Ken Jeong, Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough, Yvette Nicole Brown and Craig T. Nelson take their best shot.
