The National Football League is partnering with one of the longest-running television shows of all time to give viewers a unique simulcast of an upcoming game, adding to the league's experiments with alternative broadcasts.
What Happened: The National Football League will air "The Simpsons Funday Football" on Dec. 9 on Disney+ and ESPN+, giving fans an alternative view of an NFL game while featuring characters from the long-running hit animated comedy "The Simpsons."
The Walt Disney Company DIS will air the special game live featuring the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys as part of its "Monday Night Football" coverage.
Disney's simulcast will be aired in real-time, showing the players as animated characters in the fictional town of Springfield. The simulcast will use Sony's Beyond Sports Technology from Sony Group Corp SONY.
Springfield's Atoms Stadium will serve as the setting with well-known characters from the show making appearances. Bart Simpson will be rooting for the Cincinnati Bengals with his father Homer Simpson rooting for the Dallas Cowboys. The simulcast will occasionally show Bart or Homer replacing a member of the team and appearing to play inside the game.
Marge Simpson and Lisa Simpsons will interview players during the game. Other Simpsons characters will also make appearances, according to a press release. Voice actors from the series will provide the voices for the simulcast.
Viewers who don't want to watch the animated version of "Monday Night Football" can still watch traditional broadcasts on ESPN, ESPN+ and ABC and an alternate version with Peyton and Eli Manning on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
All telecasts will begin at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 9.
The special streaming version will also be available in over 100 markets internationally, live and via replay.
Why It's Important: First launched in 1989, "The Simpsons" is the longest-running primetime scripted series and well-known to several generations of fans.
Disney partnered with the NFL on a Funday Football telecast last year that saw teams play inside the world of "Toy Story."
This year's simulcast could bring new fans to the National Football League and also help Disney reap the benefits of having multiple versions of the game broadcast across its various networks and streaming platforms.
The Bengals (3-5) and Cowboys (3-4) have fallen short of expectations in the 2024 NFL season so far, but there are still several weeks remaining before the alternate broadcast, giving both teams a chance to improve their records.
The Cowboys remain one of the most popular teams in the NFL across the country and have been known as "America's Team" for many years.
The recent "Sunday Night Football" game on NBC and Peacock between the Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers had an average viewership of 23.9 million, up 43% year-over-year. The game hit peak viewership of 26.4 million viewers and is the most watched Week 8 NFL game ever. Comcast Corporation CMCSA is enjoying strong viewership of "Sunday Night Football," which is at its highest weekly average of 22.4 million since 2015.
DIS Price Action: Disney stock traded at $95.98 on Wednesday, versus a 52-week trading range of $80.18 to $123.74. Disney stock is up 5.7% year-to-date in 2024.
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