This week, Monday Night Football saw one of the most ambitious alternate broadcasts yet: The Simpsons Funday Football. That collaboration between ESPN, the Simpsons team, the NFL, and Sony/Beyond Sports came after almost a year of work. It provided a remarkable, different, and worthwhile experience with many highlights, and despite a few challenging moments, it could be the foundation for more broadcasts in this vein going forward.
In terms of ESPN animated altcasts, the Simpsons broadcast here followed in the footsteps of Toy Story Funday Football last year (for an international game between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars) and two Big City Greens NHL altcasts over the past two seasons, to say nothing of themed Marvel and Star Wars broadcasts. But it was the highest-profile and most comprehensive animated altcast yet for the company.
Other companies have also created notable animated outcasts. Those include WBD with the MultiVersus NHL Face-Off this April and Paramount with several NFL on Nickelodeon outcasts, most significantly the SpongeBob SquarePants-themed Super Bowl LVIII Live from Bikini Bottom (the first Super Bowl altcast) this February.
That last one is worth discussing as a comparison, as it was similarly ambitious and resource-intensive but took some different tacks. That included having character voices (particularly Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke as SpongeBob and Patrick Star respectively) provide game-long commentary, but inserting animation over regular broadcast footage rather than making the entire broadcast animated.
The fully animated approach ESPN went with here was similar to what they’d done with Toy Story and Big City Greens, turning players into big-headed animated versions of themselves. But a remarkable element this time around was replacing players on one or both sides with Simpsons characters at times, leading to highlights such as Bart Simpson throwing a touchdown to Ralph Wiggum:
Ralph hit the TOE TAP on this TD pass from Bart 👀
Simpsons Funday Football on Disney+ and ESPN+ | https://t.co/OPmIo91QCw pic.twitter.com/9hNnEImmZF
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 10, 2024
Imagine training your whole life, make it to the NFL, and you get cooked by Ralph Wiggum pic.twitter.com/7uSgAhEH5p
— Nick Perkins (@NickyPerkss) December 10, 2024
The balance used for these player substitutions was excellent. That approach wasn’t featured on every play, but it was on a lot of key highlights, including two touchdowns (including the eventual crucial one) from Lisa:
CHASE BROWN TOUCHDOWN
…EXCEPT IT’S LISA SIMPSON
pic.twitter.com/rSakc1QnRV— Yardline Sports (@YardlineSports) December 10, 2024
LISA BURNED HOMER FOR THE 40-YARD TD! 🔥
Simpsons Funday Football on Disney+ and ESPN+ | https://t.co/OPmIo91QCw pic.twitter.com/9Tjh91K3Up
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 10, 2024
An interesting editorial approach here had the commentators (play-by-play voice Drew Carter and analysts Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky) talking about these plays as if they were actually made by the Simpsons characters subbing in for the NFL players. That was great for immersion in the broadcast and was probably the right way to go. And it was obvious which player was replaced when it was quarterbacks Joe Burrow or Cooper Rush.
However, it wasn’t always clear on the altcast which real-world receiver or running back actually scored when they were Simpsonized, or which Simpsonized defender made a play. There were some mentions of “[Character] in for [player],” but it wasn’t fully consistent. So viewers who wanted to know who actually made a play had to turn to Google or social media in some cases.
Of course, that likely doesn’t matter much for many watching an altcast of this variety. But enhanced consistency in naming the replaced players would help the viewers who are interested in what actually happened, whether for NFL fandom or fantasy purposes. (And, beyond having the commentators announce that, this could perhaps be done with on-screen graphics showing the “substitutions” on any given play.)
Speaking of those commentators, their showings were generally strong, especially from Carter and Kimes. Carter (who previously called the Toy Story NFL game last year and both of the Big City Greens NHL games) is excellent at balancing traditional play-by-play with coverage of particular animated moments, and he worked in a lot of good references to Simpsons history along the way. And Kimes brought solid football analysis and showed off her deep Simpsons fandom in a smart way, dropping in quotes and references in a largely natural way and providing many of the broadcast’s funniest moments.
Kimes had a lot of great Simpsons-referencing lines here, including “You don’t win friends with field goals,” “The Cowboys with these penalties cannot keep from stepping on the proverbial rakes on the field,” “Homer Simpson has coached a pretty smart football game: S-M-R-T,” “This is what it feels like when doves cry,” and “I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords” (on the ball-spotting team of Kang and Kodos in their flying saucer). And she seemed to be having a blast and brought a ton to the broadcast.
“oh no…. this is what it feels like when doves cry, Milhouse” pic.twitter.com/5wIrWXVyNV
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 10, 2024
Mina: “…Homer Simpsons has coached a pretty smart football game. S-M-R-T smart…” pic.twitter.com/hDVFinTqcM
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 10, 2024
Orlovsky was more of a mixed bag there. He was game for this, and his breakdowns of in-game moments were largely solid. But while he brought some references to the table as well, they were more surface-level than those from Kimes and Carter, and he seemed to be forcing them at times. One notable positive from Orlovsky, though, was his quick recall of the infamous 1993 Thanksgiving Leon Lett blocked field goal after the Cowboys’ similar late blocked punt blunder. (Amazingly, main ESPN broadcast analyst Troy Aikman didn’t bring that up on that call, despite him playing in that game.)
Overall, the commentary team here provided a pretty solid experience for viewers. One cool element ESPN had for this that they didn’t for the Toy Story one was the ability to insert the commentators into different positions in the stadium. That included pregame hits from the field and in-game appearances from “Moe’s Juice Bar” on the sidelines:
We are ready for Monday Night Football in Springfield 🍩
Simpsons Funday Football | Disney+ and ESPN+ ➡️ https://t.co/33eA7DxPCi pic.twitter.com/Lm0evywWNV
— ESPN (@espn) December 10, 2024
While discussing Moe, some cool broadcast moments came from player substitutions with characters outside of the core Simpson family. That included Moe making tackles, Lenny kicking field goals while Carl held, Krusty the Clown kicking field goals, and Nelson Muntz recording a big catch. (As the commentators noted, Nelson perhaps should have been used more considering that he’s canonically the best football player in Springfield.)
SWALLOWED UP BY MOE SZYSLAK pic.twitter.com/urHA1YhltN
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 10, 2024
Krusty kicks it through the donut uprights 🍩🙌@TheSimpsons Funday Football on Disney+ and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/BGljcG1yPW
— NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2024
Nelson Muntz the route technician 😮💨@TheSimpsons Funday Football on Disney+ and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/kQqmp8hp6m
— NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2024
And a particular highlight, and remarkable example of the broadcast technology here, came from replacing the football with “Spider-Pig” and showing its point of view (leading to Kimes dropping a “just a little airborne, it’s still good”):
“Spiderpig is the ball!?” 🤣
Simpsons Funday Football on Disney+ and ESPN+ | https://t.co/OPmIo91QCw pic.twitter.com/O2kM5yNTP0
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 10, 2024
A lot of good touches here were outside the normal game action. From pregame and halftime speeches from Lisa and Moe to various other uses of characters (Professor Frink’s “explanations,” Lenny and Carl shooting pool in the “juice bar” with players on the sidelines, Itchy and Scratchy as the chain gang, Marge vacuuming up flags, Chief Wiggum holding up penalty explanation signs, a Tifo advertising guitar lessons from Otto, and Sideshow Bob in the stands with a “Tie Bart Tie” sign), there was a lot to like. And having repeated shots of Mr. Burns in a suite with Jerry Jones was a great idea:
Springfield nuclear plant owner Montgomery C. Burns and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones in the owner’s box “discussing family, the game and world domination.”
Hilarious! pic.twitter.com/21dvf0b68D
— Ken Fang — Very Asian (@fangsbites) December 10, 2024
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 10, 2024
The broadcast also did work in some famous Simpsons moments at good times, such as Homer backing into the bushes after a Bengals’ touchdown:
THERE IT IS pic.twitter.com/yeYBmoTLcj
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 10, 2024
There were also excellent jokes throughout on the “breaking news” at the top and the predictions ticker at the bottom. And a lot of the (pre-recorded) voice work from the Simpsons cast was solid, and a good addition we haven’t often seen on these altcasts. A lot of those segments, such as the locker room speeches, Frink’s breakdowns, and Bart’s prank calls to Moe (including Mark Sanchez catching a stray when Bart asked for “Bud Fumble”) were excellent, and the characters’ “interviews” with the broadcast team were generally pretty good.
However, a weak spot came from many of Marge’s interviews of actual players on random topics. There were a few good lines, particularly from the Bengals’ Ted Karras, but most of the responses weren’t interesting or funny, and some players (the Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb and the Bengals’ Joe Burrow in particular) really seemed not that into it. If altcasts are determined to work pre-game player interview clips in, it might be better to shoot more of them and raise the bar for which get included. Or the idea could be reduced or scrapped; after all, the point of this was a Simpsons broadcast, not NFL players relaying their views on vegetables or pets.
Also in lowlights, there were clearly some times when something went awry with the animation translation and the broadcast shifted to very long-range aerial or sideline camera angles. This was less frequent than on the Toy Story broadcast and probably happened for 10 or fewer plays throughout the game. Unfortunately, though, one was maybe the game’s biggest moment, the Cowboys’ punt block that turned into a Bengals’ recovery:
not the best angle https://t.co/6aK3OOrQLC pic.twitter.com/oeCojvJiYP
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 10, 2024
And while the technology was great at showing runs and catches, the animations sometimes weren’t quite there for defensive plays, with some sacks and interceptions not quite connecting arms to tackles or arms to the ball:
HOMER PICKS OFF BART! 😱
Simpsons Funday Football on Disney+ and ESPN+ | https://t.co/j7rQOkSpEr pic.twitter.com/fl97V9u3qx
— ESPN (@espn) December 10, 2024
2 TDS, 1 INT and a sack for Homer!
Clutch stop for the @dallascowboys.
📺: @TheSimpsons Funday Football on and @ESPNAusNZ pic.twitter.com/OAgXa91VLZ
— NFL Australia & NZ (@NFLAUNZ) December 10, 2024
Technical struggles happen with new technology, and it was still cool to see those character substitutions even when the animation wasn’t flawless. And, as noted, the overall broadcast here was smoother than the Toy Story one, and further iteration may make this smoother still in future incarnations. But it was unfortunate that such a key play as the punt block wound up with only a long-range angle. However, the broadcast did pull out a great trick on the Cowboys’ final unsuccessful drive, finishing by making it all Homers against all Barts:
It was all Homers vs all Barts for the final play pic.twitter.com/jw6hLlCzdg
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 10, 2024
And the broadcast ended with an actually-hilarious moment, with Homer waking up from the hot dog fever dream that set the stage for this, talking to his family about that, then segueing into random praise for Scott Van Pelt…before this was all revealed as Van Pelt’s own hot dog fever dream.
.@notthefakeSVP closes the Simpsonscast pic.twitter.com/CxDafmBspI
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 10, 2024
Overall, this stood out as one of the most impressive altcasts so far on any network. The main one with scope and ambition close to this was the Nickelodeon SpongeBob Super Bowl broadcast, and both stood out in different ways; that one was great for having in-character voice actors adding to the live commentary, but the player-replacement approach here was remarkable. All in all, Simpsons Funday Football was one of the most notable examples so far of what can currently be done with altcasts, and it’s likely to lead to even more and better ones down the road.
