Super Bowl LXI to Get an Animated 'Star Wars' Telecast on Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney+
ESPN, Lucasfilm, Disney and the NFL announced on October 20 that Super Bowl LXI, to be played on February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, will feature a real-time animated alternate telecast set in the Star Wars galaxy. "Star Wars Funday Football" will stream live on Disney+ and the ESPN App and air on Disney Channel and Disney XD. It is the first animated alternate telecast of a Super Bowl and part of ESPN's first-ever Super Bowl production.
The animated telecast will recreate every play of the game in real time, transforming the players on the field into animated avatars, while Star Wars characters sub in during key moments and Easter eggs appear throughout. Anthony Daniels, a member of the original 1977 cast, will return to voice C-3PO. The production uses Sony's Beyond Sports data visualization technology, combining the NFL's Next Gen Stats player tracking with Hawk-Eye optical tracking to turn the live game into animation.
The traditional telecast, with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, will air on ESPN, ABC and Disney+. This will be the fourth NFL animated alternate telecast from ESPN, Disney and the NFL, following Toy Story in 2023, The Simpsons in 2024 and Monsters in 2025, and it will be available live or on demand in more than 155 markets worldwide.
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Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: SoFi Stadium 航拍（资料图）。Benoît Prieur 摄，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布／Aerial view of SoFi Stadium (file photo). Photo: Benoît Prieur, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
