What to expect from the Bengals vs. Cowboys alternate lineup

Mike McCarthy as a Homer Simpson avatar is no longer something fans of the NFL and The Simpsons can imagine.

Welcome to 2024 and this battle of the streaming wars as Disney and ESPN unveil their most alternative lineup for Monday Night Football when the Dallas Cowboys host the Cincinnati Bengals.

“We were also so lucky that the Cowboys are kind of a Homer Simpson-type team, an American team, and Mike McCarthy could be a Homer-type team, you could imagine,” “The Simpsons” showrunner said Matt Selman in a broadcast conference call last week. “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.”

Monday night’s Bengals-Cowboys game will receive a virtual, three-dimensional animated makeover in the style of a Homer vs. Bart showdown, while “The Simpsons Funday Football” will stream on Disney+ and ESPN+ around the world.

Here’s what to expect from the alternate cast and how Disney implemented the high-tech project.

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Check out the alternate cast of The Simpsons Monday Night Football

“The Simpsons” and the NFL: A natural fit

The venue for the replacement will be Atoms Stadium in Springfield – not AT&T Stadium in Texas. That’s just one of the references viewers can expect.

The stream will feature more than 30 original “Simpsons” characters, as the writers have written material for countless circumstances so that the ESPN creative studio can approve it for possible use. There will be at least seven minutes of new, original “Simpsons” content. Voice actors for the series, such as Hank Azaria and Nancy Cartwright, lent their talents to the sketches.

Homer and Bart will gather the characters on their respective sides throughout the night. Marge will ask animated Bengals and Cowboys players questions in typical Marge fashion. Duff’s airship will be a jumbotron in the sky.

“I think we’ve also been thinking with the ESPN and ‘Simpsons’ team about how we can make sure that we give a nod to the diverse audiences that are watching from around the world,” said NFL vice president Grace Senko for media strategy and business development.

But “The Simpsons” and an NFL game have one thing in common that provides the most useful connecting thread: narrative.

“Football narratives dominate the American mind like nothing else… That’s what this game is like.” It’s about history. It’s about narrative. It’s the spirit of football and it’s the spirit of The Simpsons. Whoever (the NFL) you partner with next, I don’t think you can do that well. I hate being negative. I just don’t know how you’re going to top this. I don’t know. Maybe you should just stop. Maybe this should be the last. Should we announce that?” Selman said jokingly.

And there will be some of that sarcasm on stream. Even the NFL’s “protective shield” is limited. But don’t expect anything too exaggerated.

“We weren’t particularly nervous about it, were we? “It’s not the best, but there’s a sense of playfulness and parody of the NFL that the NFL was incredibly cool with,” Selman said. “I think we’re having fun with the tropes of football and the clichés of football and making fun of the family football experience in a way that these other shows wouldn’t really manage to do because they’re not.” – You have no satirical DNA.”

Why ESPN Likes Animated Alternate Cast Collaborations With ‘Toy Story’ and ‘The Simpsons’

ESPN’s goal in providing an alternative lineup is simple: to attract a broader, preferably younger, audience and to determine whether the resources dedicated to the project can help convert young adults into more traditional sports fans.

SpongeBob SquarePants has had alternate casting for the Super Bowl under the Paramount umbrella. Last year, the NFL and Disney collaborated for the first time on an animated alternate cast with a “Toy Story” version for a Week 4 international game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons.

Disney is the right partner because of the diverse and high-quality intellectual property the company owns, said Hans Schroeder, executive vice president and chief operating officer of NFL Media.

“You could tell stories to hundreds of different audiences,” Schroder said.

The wide reach and longevity of “The Simpsons” – airing for 36 seasons since 1989 – made the series suitable for this type of alternative cast; Additionally, the stream will be available in more than 145 countries, ESPN said.

“The Simpsons appeals to and engages such a large, broad audience, as does the NFL, not just here domestically but around the world,” Schroeder said.

And as Selman said, the NFL wants to tell unique stories every week. High-tech and creative partners make this goal achievable, and an alternative lineup is a means to achieve this goal.

“ESPN has really led the way with ManningCast as one of the truly unique, innovative alternative broadcasts, but we’ve now seen other partners contribute as well.” We have Prime Vision with Amazon, which is a great opportunity , to provide a more insightful perspective to the truly football-minded fan. We did ‘Toy Story’ last year.”

AI technology makes The Simpsons’ alternate cast possible… and more realistic

The magic comes from Beyond Sports, an AI-based visualization company that works with ESPN and Disney to bring the characters to life in the environment of an NFL game.

Nico Westerhof, co-founder and chief technology officer of Beyond Sports, said the foundations for the 3D simulation come from two data sources: position tracking data (provided by Next Gen Stats) and skeletal data tracking from Sony’s Hawk-Eye trackers.

Position tracking data comes from a stable feed in each player’s shoulder pads. But that is simply where the player and ball are on the field. The skeletal data is provided by 29 points per player, making the animation look much more like an actual character’s movement.

“It really becomes a special experience here,” said Westerhof.

Sony owns Beyond Sports, and Sony and the NFL began a technology partnership this summer.

“What we do at Beyond Sports is combine those two and take the best of both worlds so that we give the viewer an experience that stays true to what’s happening on the field,” Westerhof said.

Through data processing, the special “Simpsons” characters fit seamlessly into the animation. It would allow a character like Lisa to catch the ball accurately in her hands even if it flew over her head if Westerhof’s team hadn’t created the right data processing.

“It still looks believable to the viewer,” Westerhof said, “and everything makes sense.”

The stations of the “Simpsons” alternative cast will focus intensively on technology

Play-by-play announcer Drew Carter and analysts Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will specifically call the alternate lineup. The trio have “Simpsons” avatars, as do other ESPN personalities like the Manning brothers and Stephen A. Smith.

They will wear a virtual reality headset to travel to the virtual Springfield they describe.

“We will actually be able to see them in the virtual world and keep them engaged in the virtual world, even to the point where they can go on the field and be among the players,” Westerhof said.

Check out the alternate cast of The Simpsons Monday Night Football

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What to expect from the Bengals vs. Cowboys alternate lineup

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