Football's youth future: a look back at Funday Football
To infinity... and to England... and Andy's room... and beyond!
On Sunday, October 1, the NFL charted new territory by playing its first "Sunday Funday" game from the floor of a Pixar character's bedroom: Andy's from Toy Story.
The same game was played in England, but that grandeur was not nearly as impressive as watching the same players in real-time as Disney-style characters.
As a fan of football, Disney, Pixar, graphic design, and broadcasting, it was astounding to see the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Atlanta Falcons portrayed as animated characters, complete with helmets, pads, numbers, names, etc.
The players weren't alone: the play-by-play, color commentary, and sideline reporters were also animated in real-time. The game was streamed on Disney+.
The game was put together to appeal to fans of all ages, with regular football analysis for the regular football viewer and broken-down analysis geared for younger audiences, at whom the Toy Story theme was likely aimed. Regular commercials were replaced with NFL, Disney, Toy Story, and general football-based trivia.
Along with the impressive feat of putting together the players and announcers, many of the characters from the Toy Story series were utilized in the stream in unique ways.
Slinky Dog was perhaps the hardest-working toy of the day, working as the chain crew, with his tail as the first-and-ten marker and his head as the line-to-gain. Instead of the ball being placed by referees, the football was put into its spot by "The Claw." The overhead field camera was operated by the Aliens from Pizza Planet.
Other Toy Story cameos included Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, Buzz Lightyear, Forky, Zurg, and several others scattered throughout the room. Duke Caboom from Toy Story 4 also landed a big jump over five double-decker busses for the halftime show.
This format for streaming games could be a huge deal for Disney and ESPN. The draw of younger audiences to all sports, especially football, should help grow the game and get more kids interested in playing.
As the graphics become more advanced and many of the other kinks get worked out, fans should see more of these types of streams each year, and perhaps in other sports.
So what's next? An NHL game with Inside Out characters in Riley's backyard? An MLB showdown on the Axium with robots like Wall-E? An NBA contest from Wade's skybox in Elemental?
Fans of all sports should expect more contests like these in the future.
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