Carrie Underwood Takes Sunday Night Football Into Full Rock Mode With Joan Jett-Inspired Anthem After 14 Years

Carrie Underwood is giving one of television’s most recognizable sports openings a major rock makeover.

After 14 consecutive seasons as the voice and face welcoming viewers to NBC’s Sunday Night Football, the country superstar is leaning harder than ever into her rock influences for the 2026 season.

The new opening features a reworked version of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ I Hate Myself for Loving You — the rock classic that originally provided the musical foundation for the long-running football anthem.

And Underwood isn’t hiding how much she loves the change.

She described the new production as part of her ongoing “rock star fever dream,” with the revamped opener moving from a recording studio to an intimate club before exploding onto a packed stadium stage.

Carrie Underwood Is Turning Up The Guitars

Underwood has been synonymous with Sunday Night Football since taking over the opening performance in 2013.

Her voice has become part of the weekly ritual for NFL fans, setting the stage before NBC’s biggest Sunday matchup.

But the 2026 version pushes the familiar presentation in a noticeably different direction.

Rather than keeping Underwood’s country identity at the forefront, the creative team has embraced her longstanding love of rock music and connected it directly to the anthem’s origins.

“This year’s show open welcomes Sunday Night Football into my ongoing rock star fever dream,” Underwood said.

“I love this new version of the track and, once again, Tripp and the incredible team behind the camera brought it to life in a whole new way that captures the spirit of this iconic song and the heart of rock & roll.”

She added: “It’s one of my most favorite opens yet.”

It All Goes Back To Joan Jett

The harder sound is not simply a stylistic experiment.

There is a direct connection to the musical history of the Sunday Night Football anthem.

Its foundation comes from Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ I Hate Myself for Loving You, making the 2026 version an opportunity to bring those rock roots closer to the surface.

Creative director Tripp Dixon said Underwood’s “deep, well-documented love of rock music” made the concept a natural fit.

Rather than choosing between the classic sound that inspired the football anthem and Underwood’s modern interpretation, the production attempts to combine them.

“We’ve worked to match these two rock frequencies of past and present as they come together in Carrie’s high-energy performance,” Dixon explained.

“The greatest players and teams in the NFL will take it from there.”

The New Opening Moves Through Three Different Worlds

The visual production is also getting an ambitious overhaul.

Instead of placing Underwood in one primary performance environment, the 2026 opener moves her through three distinct settings.

It starts with the atmosphere of a recording studio before shifting into an intimate music venue.

From there, everything gets considerably bigger.

The sequence eventually takes Underwood into the scale and spectacle of a packed stadium concert.

The idea is to show the progression from creating the music to performing it in front of a massive audience.

For the small-venue portion, Underwood performed with her band as an audience surrounded the stage, bringing the energy of a real rock show into the production.

The setting allowed her rock influences to become much more prominent while preserving the high-energy style viewers have come to expect from the football opener.

A 14-Year Creative Partnership Continues

Behind the new concept is a collaboration almost as long-running as Underwood’s relationship with Sunday Night Football itself.

Dixon has served as creative director for every show open during Underwood’s 14-season run.

That continuity has allowed the team to keep changing the presentation without removing the performer at its centre.

Each season can introduce a new visual concept, arrangement or setting while Underwood remains the familiar connection between them.

For 2026, Dixon said her love of rock provided the starting point.

That led the production back to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and the song that helped establish the musical DNA of the anthem in the first place.

The result attempts to connect classic rock with Underwood’s own contemporary performance style.

Country Superstar, Rock Fan

Although Underwood became one of the biggest stars in country music, rock has long been part of her musical identity.

The 2026 football opener gives that side of her taste a much bigger platform.

Her description of the project as a “rock star fever dream” captures the direction of the production, which trades between the intimacy of a club performance and the spectacle of a stadium.

It also allows the opening to acknowledge where its famous melody came from.

Rather than moving away from the anthem’s history, the new arrangement circles directly back to it.

Joan Jett’s influence becomes part of the story rather than simply remaining underneath the familiar football version.

Fourteen Seasons And Still Changing

Underwood’s longevity on Sunday Night Football has made her opening performance a familiar part of the NFL television experience.

She first took over the role in 2013 and has remained at the centre of the broadcast’s opening presentation ever since.

Fourteen consecutive seasons later, the challenge is finding ways to make something viewers already recognize feel different.

The 2026 concept attempts to accomplish that without abandoning the ingredients that have defined Underwood’s run.

There is still a huge performance.

There is still the unmistakable football anthem.

And Underwood remains at the centre of it all.

But this time the guitars, rock imagery and connection to Joan Jett are being pushed much closer to the front.

Cowboys And Giants Get The First Look

The revamped opening will make its television debut ahead of the Dallas Cowboys’ matchup against the New York Giants on Sunday, September 13.

NBC and Peacock will carry the game, with Underwood’s new performance introducing the regular-season Sunday Night Football broadcast.

The 2026 NFL season had already kicked off on Wednesday, September 9, with the New England Patriots facing the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Kickoff Game.

But Sunday night will mark the beginning of another familiar tradition.

Before the Cowboys and Giants take the field, Underwood will once again provide the soundtrack.

Only this time, after 14 seasons, one of football television’s most recognizable openings is turning the volume up considerably.

By returning to the Joan Jett song that helped inspire the anthem while embracing Underwood’s own love of rock, the 2026 version connects the past and present of Sunday Night Football.

For Underwood, it is another evolution of a role she has made her own since 2013.

And this year, she is entering football season like a full-blown rock star.