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Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer
FRISCO, Texas — D’oh.
In what is perhaps fitting given how the Cowboys’ season has gone, Dallas’ “Monday Night Football” game on Dec. 9 against the Cincinnati Bengals will serve as the premiere of “The Simpsons Funday Football,” an animated game transformed in real time into the iconic Simpsons world.
The game will be available on Disney+, ESPN+ and NFL+.
Using Sony’s Beyond Sports technology, “Simpsons” creators have come up with the feel of the ESPN broadcast using their characters from the longest-running primetime scripted series (with more than 750 episodes). Last year, ESPN, Disney and the NFL presented a “Funday Football” telecast with Disney’s “Toy Story.”
Homer Simpson will be aligned with the Cowboys, now 3-4 after Sunday’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers, while Bart Simpson will be with the Bengals. For most of the game father and son will let their new Cowboys and Bengals teammates manage the action, but they will also select key opportunities to play on offense or defense.
In addition, Marge and Lisa will interview players during the game and Maggie will fly the SkyCam, while popular characters, show references and aesthetics will bring a Sunday-night-with-the-Simpsons feel to “Monday Night Football.”
With state-of-the-art tracking technology enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and Sony’s Beyond Sports combined with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations’ optical tracking, fans watching “The Simpsons Funday Football” will see every snap, run, pass and score from the real-life Bengals and Cowboys matchup at AT&T Stadium as it happens.
Of course, AT&T Stadium will be replaced by Atoms Stadium in Springfield — so neither Simpson will have a home-field advantage.
ESPN’s Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky, noted Simpsons enthusiasts, will provide commentary with Drew Carter calling the game action. All three will be animated in the style of the Simpsons and don ESPN Edge Innovation Partner’s Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield thanks to VR technology and Beyond Sports’ Virtual Commentator technology.