A first for the Super Bowl broadcast
ESPN, Lucasfilm, Disney and the NFL will produce a real-time, animated alternate telecast of Super Bowl LXI set in the Star Wars universe, featuring characters drawn from across the Lucasfilm franchise. Anthony Daniels, a member of the original 1977 cast, will return to voice C-3PO. The presentation, called Star Wars Funday Football, will stream on Disney+ and the ESPN App and air on Disney Channel and Disney XD on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2027. It is the first animated alternate presentation of a Super Bowl and the first Super Bowl production ESPN has ever mounted.[S1]
The animated feed will run alongside the conventional broadcast from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., where Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge will call the game for ESPN, ABC and Disney+. Spanish-language coverage is set for Disney+ and ESPN Deportes, with a separate Spanish presentation on Univision.[S1]
How the animated game will work
Every play of Super Bowl LXI will be recreated in real time, with players on the field turned into animated avatars while Star Wars characters step in at key moments and Easter eggs surface throughout the game. ESPN will produce the telecast using data visualization technology from Sony's Beyond Sports, which has powered the Funday Football series since it began. The system converts live action into animation by combining player tracking data from the NFL's Next Gen Stats with optical tracking from Sony's Hawk-Eye Innovations.[S1]
Further details about the Star Wars presentation, including visual settings, commentators and characters, will be announced as the game approaches.[S1]
Reach and the Funday Football lineage
The animated game will be available live in markets including Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, Canada on TSN+, the Netherlands, sub-Saharan Africa, Japan, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. On-demand viewing on Disney+ will follow shortly after the live telecast in those markets and in additional regions such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany and South Korea, bringing the total to more than 155 markets.[S1]
Star Wars Funday Football is the fourth NFL animated alternate telecast from ESPN, Disney and the NFL. It follows Toy Story Funday Football in October 2023, which won three Sports Emmy Awards, The Simpsons Funday Football in December 2024 and Monsters Funday Football in December 2025. The telecast arrives as Lucasfilm marks 50 years of Star Wars, and a newly restored version of the original 1977 film returns to theaters on Friday, Feb. 19, five days after the Super Bowl.[S1]
Other ways to watch and related programming
The Star Wars feed is one of several Super Bowl LXI options ESPN and the NFL are offering across platforms, alongside Super Bowl LXI with Peyton and Eli on ESPN2, Super Bowl LXI Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show on ESPNU and Super Bowl LXI Playbook with Next Gen Stats on NFL Network, all announced October 11.[S1]
From Tuesday, Oct. 20, SC+, ESPN's daily SportsCenter show on Disney+, will carry Star Wars Hyperspace Highlights, presenting Monday Night Football plays with a Star Wars visual theme. Starting Oct. 26, SC+ will also air on Mondays an animated Darth Vader interviewing an NFL player taking part in that night's Monday Night Football game.[S1][S2]
All Disney+ subscribers in the United States can stream the traditional Super Bowl LXI presentation airing on ESPN and ABC. Outside the U.S., Disney+ will carry ESPN's Super Bowl in more than 55 international markets, including Spanish-speaking Latin America, Brazil, the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia and New Zealand, while ESPN networks will show the game in more than 130 countries and territories.[S1]
