In celebration of the 50th anniversary of "The NFL Today," CBS Sports treated viewers to a nostalgic experience during Week 3 of the 2025 NFL season, presenting a virtual retro-style set.
The show, broadcasted from the CBS Broadcast Center, skillfully blended elements from the sets used between 1975 and 1980, as explained by J.P. LoMonaco, vice president of design for CBS Sports, to NCS.
The virtual set, enhanced by Zero Density technology, also incorporated a digital replica of the old-school method of displaying on-screen information, resembling a physical sign set up on camera. These setups, reminiscent of vintage stadium scoreboards, generally featured cutouts with slide-out panels for displaying changing information, like team names and stats, while frequently used elements were directly applied to the board's surface.
Adding to the nostalgia, Brent Musburger, a former co-host of “NFL Today” from 1975 to 1990, joined the current hosts and analysts James Brown, Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson, and Matt Ryan for the anniversary show on Sept. 21, 2025.
The opening sequence also featured a vintage clip of a Jeep traversing rough terrain, acknowledging the show's current sponsor. The broadcast also showcased retro graphics and the original theme music.
This prompted Lomonaco and his team to create a complete set of animated and insert graphics inspired by the aesthetics of the late 1970s. It's worth noting that these rebuilds were rendered in a 16:9 aspect ratio and broadcast in high definition, with integrated "filters" to achieve the desired vintage appearance.
The opening sequence was also recreated, featuring the names of the current talent roster (and Musburger’s name under a “featuring” credit). CBS also presented a production card in a retro style.