For the first time in 16 years, the opening to College GameDay looked a little different today.
The past 16 years, Saturday morning kicked off with Big & Rich singing their hit “Comin’ To Your City” to open College GameDay on ESPN.
But a few weeks ago, the duo revealed that they would no longer be a part of the opening, and it was later revealed that the new version of the song would instead be performed by Darius Rucker, Lainey Wilson and The Cadillac Three.
To celebrate 30 years of GameDay hitting the road, @dariusrucker, @laineywilson and @thecadillac3 are the new voices of our anthem 👏
The latest version of "Comin' To Your City" will be here Saturday morning 🎵 pic.twitter.com/7yzpwV7PfI
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) August 28, 2023
In their original statement regarding the change, Big & Rich said that it was “time to officially pass the torch” after 16 years as the voice of the theme song for College GameDay.
@collegegameday, it's been an honor. Time to officially pass the torch after 16 incredible years! #collegegameday #bigandrich pic.twitter.com/E1ga988ITL
— Big & Rich (@bigandrich) August 24, 2023
But today, John Rich revealed that it was actually ESPN that made the decision to move on from Big & Rich and replace them with the trio of new artists.
In a statement on Twitter, Rich addressed being left off of the intro for the first time in 16 years:
“We appreciate all the time Big & Rich were the faces of College GameDay over the years. It was a great experience and we had a blast. ESPN decided to move on from us and that is their prerogative of course. I’m not sure what led to that decision, but we are grateful for all the memories and love from our fans!”
We appreciate all the time @bigandrich were the faces of #CollegeGameDay over the years. It was a great experience and we had a blast. @espn decided to move on from us and that is their prerogative of course. I'm not sure what led to that decision, but we are grateful for all the… https://t.co/I266scfCvP
— John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) September 2, 2023
Of course many suspected that Rich’s politics may have played a role in ESPN’s decision, as the singer has been an outspoken conservative and hasn’t been afraid to speak his mind.
Earlier this year, Rich got a lot of attention – both good and bad – for his promise to remove Bud Light from his Nashville bar, Redneck Riviera, in the wake of the controversy that erupted after the beer company hired transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for their marketing campaign.
What beer should my bar @rnrbarnash in Nashville replace #BudLight with? @RedneckRiviera
— John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) April 5, 2023
And many fans weren’t thrilled with the new version of their song:
Bring back Big & Rich #GameDay #espn didn’t feel right
— JenNole2013 (@jensanti1890) September 2, 2023
Yeah bring back Big & Rich that new gameday song is awful
— Will Bradley (@WillBradley15) September 2, 2023
NOOOO ESPN!@espn
New GameDay Song is terrible. Bring back Big & Rich.— Kent Chambers (@CoachKent89) September 2, 2023
@CollegeGameDay
Bring back Big & Rich! That was the worst College Gameday song since they started doing it!— Mark McCoy (@MarkMcC75231451) September 2, 2023
Of course, after hearing Big & Rich every fall Saturday morning for 16 years, it’s definitely going to take some time to get used to the new version.
