Football and a galaxy far, far away are colliding for Super Bowl Sunday. ESPN, Disney, Lucasfilm and the NFL are teaming up for Star Wars Funday Football, an animated alternative broadcast designed to bring a little extra intergalactic fun to families watching the big game.
The companies announced that Star Wars Funday Football will air during Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027. The broadcast will stream on Disney+ and the ESPN App, with additional availability on Disney Channel and Disney XD.
The announcement marks ESPN’s first Super Bowl production and the first time the game will receive a fully animated alternate presentation. According to ESPN’s announcement, the presentation will feature familiar franchise characters, including C-3PO, voiced by original Star Wars actor Anthony Daniels.
The special arrives as Lucasfilm celebrates 50 years of Star Wars, giving younger fans another way to experience the franchise. It will run alongside the traditional Super Bowl broadcast, so families can choose the viewing experience that suits them.
What Is Funday Football and What Can Fans Expect?
Funday Football transforms real NFL action into animated gameplay, using player-tracking data to recreate plays as they happen. In the official NFL preview, the league promises that “every play” will be recreated in real time within the Star Wars galaxy.
Players will appear as animated avatars, while iconic characters join the action at key moments and hidden references reward eagle-eyed fans. The production uses technology from Sony’s Beyond Sports, combining NFL Next Gen Stats with Sony’s Hawk-Eye optical tracking.
More details about the animated setting, commentators and character appearances are expected before kickoff. The broadcast is intended to make the sport more visually accessible and entertaining for younger viewers without replacing the real competition.
How Does It Compare With Nickelodeon’s NFL Broadcasts?
The NFL has increasingly experimented with alternate broadcasts designed to attract younger audiences. Nickelodeon’s kid-focused NFL presentations, for example, have used playful graphics, slime effects and simplified explanations to make football more approachable for children.
Disney and ESPN have already tested the Funday Football concept with Toy Story in 2023, The Simpsons in 2024 and Monsters, Inc. in 2025. Animation World Network reports that the Toy Story edition earned three Sports Emmy Awards.
The Star Wars edition will be the fourth animated NFL alternate broadcast from ESPN, Disney and the NFL, but the first for a Super Bowl. For families, it offers another option for sharing the excitement of football with kids who might be more interested in droids, spaceships and lightsabers than playbooks.
