Carrie Underwood has been opening up Sunday Night Football for eight consecutive seasons, but perhaps none of those have been as welcomed as this particular month, kicking off Sept. 13 in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic.

In the new opener, Underwood belts out “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” amid laser beams of light, dressed in a glittery mini-dress, leggings, and boots. Meanwhile, cameos of NFL standouts such as Dak Prescott and Patrick Mahomes flash by in the background. Fan-generated footage rounds out the clip, bringing the electric feel of a real-time stadium experience to the small screen.

While the editing may look seamless, as with most productions that have taken place during the time of COVID-19, creating the final product was a bit more of a challenge than in previous years. Underwood, for her part, filmed all her parts in a Nashville studio in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines.

It was all worth it, though, according to the superstar — just to bring a little bit of much-needed happiness back to sports fans. "We all want to make each year feel special and unique," Underwood noted of the video. "More than anything, everybody's just grateful that we get to do this...I think people need Sunday Night Football. We need that bit of normalcy, even if we're going about it in a slightly different way."

Sunday night's matchup pits the Dallas Cowboys against the Los Angeles Rams. Sunday Night Football has the distinction of being primetime TV's No. 1 program for nine consecutive years.

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