Super Bowl LXI Gets Star Wars Animated Altcast on Disney+ Channels
The Super Bowl is heading to a galaxy far, far away. ESPN, Lucasfilm and the NFL will team up for Star Wars Funday Football, an animated alternative telecast of Super Bowl LXI. It will air live on Sunday, Feb. 14 on Disney+, Disney Channel and Disney XD, according to Deadline.
An alternative telecast means a separate live broadcast shown at the same time as the main coverage, with its own look and presenters. This one will recreate every play of the game in real time. Players will appear as animated avatars inside a Star Wars setting.
C-3PO, voiced by Anthony Daniels, will appear in the animated presentation. ESPN will produce it using visualisation technology from Sony's Beyond Sports. That system tracks player movement and turns it into animation within seconds.
The traditional coverage will air at the same time from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will call the game, with Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge reporting from the sidelines. That broadcast will be shown on ESPN, ABC and Disney+.
This is the first animated alternative presentation of a Super Bowl. Disney and the NFL have tested the Funday Football idea three times in regular season games. Toy Story Funday Football covered the Falcons-Jaguars game in October 2023. The Simpsons Funday Football followed the Bengals-Cowboys game in December 2024, and Monsters Funday Football covered the Eagles-Chargers game in December 2025.
The build-up starts months before kick-off. From Tuesday, Oct. 20, ESPN's SC+ on Disney+ will carry Star Wars Hyperspace Highlights, which replays Monday Night Football plays with a Star Wars visual theme. From Monday, Oct. 26, SC+ will also show an animated Darth Vader interviewing a player scheduled to appear in that night's Monday Night Football game.
For fans, this means several ways to watch the same night. Disney+, ESPN and the NFL have announced that Disney+ will livestream Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, 2027, according to ESPN Pressroom. The game is also listed as available through a bundle of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Unlimited.
What makes this stand out is the slot. A children's channel audience and a sports audience rarely get the same live game at the same hour. On Feb. 14, they will.
