The Simpsons Funday Football alt cast – all you need to know
The world of alternative broadcasts has expanded once again with ESPN rolling out The Simpsons Funday Football on Disney+, ESPN+, and NFL+ (mobile) on Monday 9 December, a move that demonstrates how quickly the technology is evolving to power such broadcasts.
“I think this is the most alternate of the alternate broadcasts,” says Phil Orlins, VP, production, ESPN. “To me, this is the true alternative because we’re not just treating the game or wrapping it with an alteration. We’re actually re-creating the game in a truly alternative universe. By design, we’re explicitly pursuing the interest of fans who may not want to watch the game in the conventional manner, and I think that is really important.”
The broadcast involved creative elements representing everything from the Simpsons writing staff to the ESPN graphics team, which continues to get more and more reps with such broadcasts. Those creative elements made use of some key technology pieces that make it all possible and, increasingly, allow the shows to become even more sophisticated.
Read more: Inside the tech that ESPN and the NFL use to bring Springfield to life
Although the real-life game was in Dallas and the animated game was in Springfield, nearly all production operations were located at ESPN’s home campus in Bristol, CT.
“We not only have to tell the story of the football game but envision what that looks like if it were in The Simpsons universe,” says Haili Menard, manager, technology operations, ESPN. “Creative calls from our directing and production staff make that happen.”
Read more: The game may be set in Springfield, but the production team is in Bristol
ESPN’s Michael “Spike” Szykowny has seen his share of innovations. However, the 10-time Emmy Award winner believes that The Simpsons Funday Football animated Monday Night Football altcast “is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before in live sports.”
The VP, edit + animation + graphics innovation + creative production, ESPN Creative Studio sat down with SVG to provide an inside look at the monumental efforts that went into altcast.
During the alternative presentation, iconic characters from The Simpsons were joined by an animated version of the Monday Night Football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Dallas Cowboys, and it was all be made possible by a combination of data processing and real-time visualisation technology from Beyond Sports.
In advance of this unique production, SVG spoke with Sander Schouten, co-founder/CEO, Sony’s Beyond Sports, about how tracking technology enables the real-time animations, how the tech has evolved, and how the Sony Sports brand continues to grow.
Two of the more culturally relevant pieces of music in the TV medium were blended into a custom theme for the production. Through a partnership with music-licensing agency APM Music, ESPN recorded a new song for the altcast. It combined the Monday Night Football theme (or as it’s known by its more formal name, ‘Heavy Action’) with the main title theme of the biggest animated show in history.