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As they announced during halftime of Monday Night Football, ESPN, Disney, the Simpsons and the NFL will premiere The Simpsons Funday Football on Monday, Dec. 9. The broadcast will be an animated Monday Night Football game transformed in real-time into the iconic Simpsons world using Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. Atoms Stadium in Springfield will host the fully immersive fan viewing experience featuring the Cincinnati Bengals at the Dallas Cowboys.
The alternate telecast will stream on Disney+ and ESPN+, as well as on mobile, with NFL+. The traditional Monday Night Football telecast will be available on ESPN, ABC and ESPN Deportes with Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli on ESPN2.
The legendary Simpsons creators have collaborated on the look, sound and feel with ESPN and the NFL to ensure the authenticity of the longest running primetime scripted series with more than 750 episodes.
This is the second consecutive year ESPN, Disney and the NFL have presented a Funday Football telecast. Last season, they collaborated on Toy Story Funday Football.
In a release, ESPN described how the telecast works saying, “Each Bengals and Cowboys player will appear as a motion-enabled, animated player for the special primetime matchup. Through state-of-the-art tracking technology enabled by NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Sony’s Beyond Sports, combined with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations’ optical tracking, fans enjoying The Simpsons Funday Football will see every snap, run, pass, score and more from the real-life Bengals and Cowboys matchup at AT&T Stadium as it happens.”
The network also explained how the main characters of Bart and Homer Simpson will be used, saying, “With Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as the setting, The Simpsons Funday Football will be a true family affair as Bart Simpson sides with Joe Burrow and the Bengals while Homer aligns with Dak Prescott and the Cowboys. For most of the game, Bart and Homer will let their new Bengals and Cowboys teammates manage the action, but the iconic father and son duo won’t sit on the sidelines for the entire game. Each will select key opportunities to play offense and/or defense, replacing a player and joining his other 10 teammates on the field.”
Not to be left out, Marge and Lisa Simpson will interview players during the game and Maggie will fly the SkyCam, while popular characters, show references and aesthetics will bring a real Sunday-night-with-the-Simpsons feel to Monday Night Football.
