The Simpsons took over the NFL last Monday, making use of technology by ESPN and Sony to create an alternate live broadcast of an American football game between Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals, but making it look like a Simpsons episode -if the Simpsons were in 3D and looked like a videogame-.
Jokes aside, the special event called "The Simpsons Funday Football" was no small feat. It wasn't a short film or a sketch, but a genuine broadcast of a live football game -that ended 27-20 in favour of Cincinnati-, that you could watch as usual on ESPN or "Simpsonified" on Disney+ or ESPN+.
All in real time, with players being transformed into 3D, Simpson-like characters, in a 3D enviroment, and even the stadium being completely different, the Springfield Atoms, as seen in the cartoon.
ESPN uses The Simpsons to bring in new American football fans
Fans of The Simpsons could enjoy the game even if they didn't care about the sport, which is precisely the point of this type of initiatives: to broaden the appeal of the NFL and attract new viewers.
It helps that The Simpsons are universally loved by people of all ages, and the makers of this "Funday Football" really stepped up the game, filling the screen with cameos of the characters from the TV series, including Homer and Bart, each one cheering and sometimes playing for each side, while the real life comentarists were also transformed into yellow versions of themselves.
This isn't entirely new, as NFL has already made similar moves with other cartoon franchises, including SpongeBob or, last year, Toy Story. Naturally, Disney owns ESPN, the network that broadcasts NFL, as well as The Simpsons, currently on its 36th season after more than 750 episodes.
Next Christmas Day, ESPN will do the same with an NBA match, but this time with Disney characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto or Goofy at Walt Disney World.
