A look at how ESPN turned Bengals-Cowboys into ‘The Simpsons’

On By Littum

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

It all started in 2023 when the league merged with Disney and ESPN to introduce the “Toy Story Funday Football” broadcast. The alternate broadcast featured the London matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and 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 series is embracing the dirt and grime of football: “The Simpsons.”

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

Here’s how ESPN and Disney brought “The Simpsons” to the NFL.

Watch ‘The Simpsons Monday Night Football’ all cast

How ‘The Simpsons’ simulcast of Bengals and Cowboys came to be

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Video: Joe Burrow Weighs In On ‘The Simpsons’ Broadcast For ‘MNF’

Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow told ESPN “The Simpsons” telecast “could be interesting” ahead of the “Monday Night Football” game.

Provided by ESPN

“The Simpsons” simulcast has been in the works for nearly a year. Planning began in early 2024, but it wasn’t until around September — just a few months before the game was scheduled to take place — that teams found out they wanted to merge the Springfield characters with Bengals and Cowboys players.

Then came crunch time.

“The Simpsons” showrunner Matt Selman said, “every day was a push.” Fortunately for the ESPN crews, they had a longer runway to work with than they had last year for “Toy Story.”

“The runway was longer, but definitely more content and more to play with. It’s a long process from where the idea starts,” said Michael Szykowny, ESPN’s vice president of editing and animation. “And then when you kind of get everything up and running from a graphic preparation, it’s like a sprint for like two and a half months where we really all work together.”

And as the work took shape, more ideas kept coming.

“So it’s not a small task. But again, everyone enjoys doing it so much … people would have built more things if we didn’t say stop,” Szykowny said.

Hans Schroeder, NFL Media Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, said the creative talent on board would have been able to drive a great narrative regardless of which teams played in the game. But the Bengals-Cowboys matchup, featuring stars that include Joe Burrow, CeeDee Lamb, Ja’Marr Chase and others, struck them as a game with “a lot of excitement” around it.

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

He added that the McCarthy versus Burrow dichotomy naturally plays into the Homer versus Bart dynamic that has been part of “The Simpsons” for over 30 years.

“I don’t know if it would have worked as well if it was like the Titans versus 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 full-fledged story.

When creating “The Simpsons Funday Football,” the crews had one thing in mind: make the broadcast as unique and creative as possible.

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

The alternate broadcast doesn’t start with regular pregame hype videos and interviews. Instead, the simulcast will take NFL fans on a journey through Springfield before getting to the action.

Homer challenges Bart and his friends to a friendly football game, but is injured and ends up eating several hot dogs during his recovery. His feast sends him into a food coma and he dreams about the entire Bengals-Cowboys game.

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

“One of the beautiful things about ‘The Simpsons’ and football is that parents and their kids can watch something that they watched as kids together as a family,” Selman said. “It’s a multigenerational experience. It’s not like parents are making their kids watch reruns, or kids are making their parents watch something new (and) they don’t know what it is. It’s been something that has been a part of their lives for three generations now and the same with football.”

Phil Orlins, ESPN’s vice president of production, said the collaboration is also important to the sport and its connection to a younger audience.

“We would all love for young people to start watching sporting events in their entirety at a young age, but we know how realistically challenging that is today with all forms of media,” Orlins said. “So having a way to get younger or different viewers to really want to engage with an entire game or a significant part is a really lofty goal.”

What to expect during the alternative broadcast

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

“I think this is the most alternative of the alternative broadcasts, if that even makes 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 to expect:

  • Fans will see seven new minutes of animation that “you’ll never see anywhere else except during the game.”
  • “The Simpsons” theme song will be mixed with the iconic “MNF” intro song.
  • The show will feature more than 30 characters from “The Simpsons.”
  • Sports personality Stephen A. Smith will have his own special rant during the game, further embracing his dislike of the Cowboys.
  • Mina Kimes, Dan Orlovsky and Drew Carter will be the special “Simpsons” voice actors. A special guest, who has yet to be revealed, is also in the plans.
  • Kimes, Orlovsky and Carter will wear virtual reality headsets during the game so they can be fully immersed in the comic book world.

“It was really fun. It was really fun. I hope that’s what really comes across on Monday night,” Szykowny said.

  • Date: Monday 9 Dec.
  • Time: 8:15 PM ET.

How to watch ‘The Simpsons Funday Football’ broadcast of the Bengals-Cowboys game

There are several ways fans can watch the Bengals and Cowboys face off “Simpsons” style.

  • Current: ESPN+ and Disney+. The game will be available on Disney+ for 30 days after the game.

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

Watch ‘The Simpsons Funday Football’ on ESPN+

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