A matchup later this season will function two acquainted characters, Bart and Homer Simpson, within the decidedly unfamiliar context of a stay NFL soccer sport.
The alternate, animated telecast of the December 9 showdown between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will function a totally immersive Simpsons expertise conveying the precise on-field motion. It will likely be delivered to life by writers and voice expertise from the long-running Fox animated collection, whose characters and library turned the property of ESPN mother or father Disney in 2019. The setting for the telecast, streaming on Disney+ and ESPN+ and on cellular through NFL+, will probably be Atoms Stadium within the present’s fictional residence base of Springfield.
It will likely be the second annual “Funday Soccer” initiative by ESPN, Disney and the NFL, following final yr’s debut version set in Andy’s bed room in Pixar’s Toy Story franchise. Not like a yr in the past, nonetheless, strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA won’t restrict expertise participation. Longtime Simpsons voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner and Yeardley Smith will voice a number of of their characters in prerecorded bits and skits. Exterior of the stay performs, Simpsons producers have written authentic materials for use earlier than, throughout and after the sport.
The strategic aim of the alternate broadcast is to broaden the sport’s attain. An identical effort, the Manningcast, has helped develop the viewers for the video games by means of two-plus seasons.
Homer, aligned with the Cowboys, and Bart with the Bengals will rally their supporters who will be a part of them on their respective sidelines all through the matchup. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will probably be with Bart; whereas Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe will probably be with Homer.
Internationally, the particular presentation will probably be obtainable on linear or streaming in additional than 145 markets stay and/or through replay. Amongst these, all Latin America together with Mexico and Brazil, the Caribbean, Australia & New Zealand, Netherlands, Sub-Saharan Africa and in Canada through TSN. Video on demand may even be obtainable 12 hours after the stay broadcast ends in these and different markets.
Each participant within the sport will seem as a motion-enabled, animated participant. By state-of-the-art monitoring expertise enabled by NFL’s Subsequent Gen Stats together with Sony’s Past Sports activities with Hawk-Eye Improvements optical monitoring, viewers will see a rendition of every thing that occurs in actual life at AT&T Stadium because it occurs.
Marge and Lisa Simpson will interview gamers in the course of the sport and Maggie will fly the SkyCam, whereas common characters, present references and aesthetics “will convey an actual Sunday-night-with-the-Simpsons really feel,” a press launch stated. The Simpsons and ESPN: Animated segments may even incorporate ESPN personalities like Stephen A. Smith, Peyton and Eli Manning and others, with their segments written by the Simpsons creators.
ESPN studio analysts and hosts Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will present soccer technique dialogue, with Drew Carter calling the sport motion. Kimes, Orlovsky and Carter will probably be animated within the fashion of The Simpsons.
The primary-of-its-kind 2023 Toy Story outing, ESPN’s first totally animated NFL telecast, gained three Sports activities Emmys and delivered the largest stay occasion to that time on Disney+, based mostly on peak concurrency.
