An inside look at how ESPN turned the Bengals-Cowboys into "The Simpsons."

The NFL is taking football to places it has never gone before by experimenting with new, unique ways to broadcast games.

It all started in 2023 when the league partnered with Disney and ESPN to launch the “Toy Story Funday Football” television show. The alternative broadcast showed the London match between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Atlanta Falcons. Viewers watching on Disney+ saw the game unfold in Andy’s bedroom with all of his iconic toys, including Buzz Lightyear and Cowboy Woody.

Now another popular cartoon franchise is dedicated to the dirt and grit of football: “The Simpsons.”

During the alternate “Monday Night Football” broadcast on December 9, the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will face off in a “crazy hot dog fever dream” at Springfield Atoms Stadium. Titled “The Simpsons Funday Football,” the primetime game features special guests, humorous jokes and (hopefully) plenty of touchdowns.

This is how ESPN and Disney brought “The Simpsons” to the NFL.

Check out the alternate cast of The Simpsons Monday Night Football

How the “Simpsons” simulcast of the Bengals and Cowboys came about

The simulcast “The Simpsons” has been airing for almost a year. Planning began in early 2024, but it wasn’t until around September – just a few months before the game was set to take place – that teams found out they would be pairing the Springfield characters with the Bengals and Cowboys players.

Then came crunch time.

“The Simpsons” showrunner Matt Selman said, “Every day was a push.” Luckily for the ESPN crews, they had a longer runway for “Toy Story” than last year.

“The runway was longer, but definitely more content and more to play with. It’s a long process before the idea starts,” said Michael Szykowny, Vice President of Editing and Animation at ESPN. “And then when you get everything up and running with the graphics preparation, so to speak, it’s like a sprint of about two and a half months where we really all work together.”

And as the work took shape, more and more ideas came.

“So it’s no small task. But again, everyone has so much fun… people would have built more things if we hadn’t said stop,” Szykowny said.

Hans Schroeder, executive vice president and chief operating officer of NFL Media, said the creative talent on board would have been able to drive a great narrative no matter what teams were in the game. But she found the duel between the Bengals and the Cowboys, which included stars like Joe Burrow, CeeDee Lamb, Ja’Marr Chase and others, to be a game with “a lot of excitement.”

“We were just so lucky that the Cowboys are kind of a Homer Simpson-type team, an American team, and Mike McCarthy could be a Homer-type guy, you could imagine,” Selman said. “And then on the other side you’ve got Joe Burrow, a cool, young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy – he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly.”

He added that the McCarthy-Burrow dichotomy plays naturally into the dynamic between Homer and Bart, which has been part of The Simpsons for over 30 years.

“I don’t know if it would have worked if it was like Titans vs. Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work,” Selman said.

The simulcast is more than just a game. It’s a comprehensive story.

When developing The Simpsons Funday Football, the teams had one thing in mind: to make the broadcast as unique and creative as possible.

“Everyone wants this to be so great,” Szykowny said, adding that viewers should watch the show from start to finish.

The alternative broadcast will not begin with regular hype videos and pre-game interviews. Instead, the simulcast takes NFL fans on a journey through Springfield before the action happens.

Homer challenges Bart and his friends to a friendly game of soccer, but injures himself and eats several hot dogs during his recovery. His feast puts him in a food coma and he dreams of the entire match between the Bengals and the Cowboys.

The creators rightly called the show a “crazy hot dog fever dream” and hope the story, jokes and funny features will resonate with fans of all ages.

“One of the beauties of ‘The Simpsons’ and football is that parents and their children can watch something they watched as a child together as a family,” Selman said. “It’s a multi-generational experience. It’s not that parents force their children to watch reruns, or that children force their parents to watch something new (and) they don’t know what it is. It is something that has been part of their lives for three generations, and the same with football.”

Phil Orlins, ESPN vice president of production, said the collaboration is also important for the sport and its connection to younger audiences.

“We would all love for young people to start fully watching sporting events in their teens, but we know how realistic it is these days with all forms of media,” Orlins said. “Finding a way to get younger or different viewers to really engage with the whole game or a significant part of it is a really lofty goal.”

What to expect during the alternative transfer

Orlins, who has worked on several alternative broadcasts such as the MLB Little League Classic and MLB All-Access Week, said Monday night’s “Simpsons” game will be unlike any other.

“I think this is the most alternative of all alternative shows, if that makes any sense,” Orlins said. “You know, most of what we do is find a different way to reach fans of a game in a different way that appeals to a different subset of people.”

Here’s what awaits you:

Fans will see seven new minutes of animation “that you won’t see anywhere else except during the game.”
The theme song “The Simpsons” is combined with the legendary intro song “MNF”.
The show will feature more than 30 characters from “The Simpsons.”
Athlete Stephen A. Smith will deliver his own tirade during the game, further emphasizing his dislike of the Cowboys.
Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky and Drew Carter will be the special “Simpsons” announcers. A special guest, to be announced, is also being planned.
Kimes, Orlovsky and Carter will wear virtual reality headsets during the game so they can fully immerse themselves in the cartoon world.

“It was really fun. It was really fun. I hope this really comes to the screen on Monday night,” Szykowny said.

Date: Monday, December 9th.
Time: 8:15 p.m. ET.

How to watch The Simpsons Funday Football telecast of the Bengals-Cowboys game.

There are several ways for fans to experience the Bengals and Cowboys clash in “Simpsons” style.

Electricity: ESPN+ and Disney+. The game will be available on Disney+ for 30 days after play.

Homer Simpson will also crash the “Manningcast” with Eli and Peyton Manning on ESPN2 and ESPN+. The main Bengals-Cowboys show airs on ESPN and ABC. It can also be streamed on ESPN+.

Watch The Simpsons Funday Football on ESPN+

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An inside look at how ESPN turned the Bengals-Cowboys into “The Simpsons.”

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