- ESPN, Lucasfilm, Disney and the NFL will present a real-time, animated Super Bowl LXI set in the Star Wars galaxy on Sunday, Feb. 14
- Iconic characters from across the Lucasfilm franchise will join the action alongside the AFC and NFC champions, including C-3PO voiced by original Star Wars cast member Anthony Daniels
- Animated alternate telecast will complement traditional Super Bowl LXI presentations and other alternate telecasts on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, NFL Network, ESPNU, Disney+ and ESPN App
ESPN, Lucasfilm, Disney and the NFL will present a real-time, animated alternate telecast of Super Bowl LXI set in the Star Wars galaxy and featuring characters from across the Lucasfilm franchise, including original 1977 cast member Anthony Daniels returning to voice C-3PO. Extending the Emmy-winning Funday Football brand to America’s biggest game, Star Wars Funday Football will stream live on Disney+ and the ESPN App and air on Disney Channel and Disney XD on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2027, giving fans of all ages a new way to experience ESPN’s first-ever Super Bowl production.
Star Wars Funday Football will be presented alongside the traditional telecast with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge on ESPN, ABC and Disney+ from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. ESPN’s Spanish-language telecast will be available on Disney+ and ESPN Deportes, with a separate Spanish-language presentation on Univision.
Star Wars Funday Football will reach fans around the world, with expanded live international availability in markets including Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, Canada (TSN+), the Netherlands, sub-Saharan Africa, Japan, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The animated game will also be available on demand on Disney+ shortly after the live telecast in these markets and additional regions, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Korea and more, bringing total availability to more than 155 markets worldwide.
The Star Wars animated telecast will recreate every play of Super Bowl LXI in real time, transforming players on the field into animated avatars, while Star Wars characters sub in during key moments and various Easter eggs appear throughout the game.
ESPN will produce Star Wars Funday Football with data visualization technology from Sony’s Beyond Sports, which has enabled the animated gameplay of the Funday Football series since its inception. The technology transforms live gameplay into animation in real time by combining player tracking data from the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking. As Super Bowl LXI approaches, more details about the Star Wars animated presentation will be announced, including visual settings, commentators, characters and more.
Star Wars Funday Football is the first animated alternate presentation of a Super Bowl and the fourth NFL animated alternate telecast from ESPN, Disney and the NFL. It follows Toy Story Funday Football (October 2023, Falcons-Jaguars), which earned three Sports Emmy Awards; The Simpsons Funday Football (December 2024, Bengals-Cowboys); and Monsters Funday Football (December 2025, Eagles-Chargers).
Star Wars Funday Football will arrive as Lucasfilm celebrates 50 years of Star Wars. Just five days after Super Bowl LXI, a newly restored version of the original 1977 Star Wars will return to theaters on Friday, Feb. 19.
The Star Wars alternate telecast is one of multiple options for watching Super Bowl LXI that ESPN, in conjunction with the NFL, is providing fans across platforms, including 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, which ESPN announced October 11.
Beginning Tuesday, Oct. 20, SC+, ESPN’s daily SportsCenter show on Disney+, will feature Star Wars “Hyperspace Highlights” with plays from Monday Night Football presented with a Star Wars visual theme. Also, starting October 26, SC+ will showcase on Mondays an animated Darth Vader interviewing an NFL player participating in that night’s Monday Night Football game.
All Disney+ subscribers in the U.S. can stream the traditional Super Bowl LXI game presentation airing on ESPN and ABC. Outside the U.S., Disney+ will stream ESPN’s Super Bowl in more than 55 international markets, including Spanish-speaking Latin America, Brazil, the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia/New Zealand. In addition, ESPN networks will carry the Super Bowl in more than 130 countries and territories.
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Media Contacts
Kevin Ota (ESPN) | kevin.r.ota@espn.com
Lyn Cowan (Lucasfilm) | lcowan@lucasfilm.com
Nicolette Hamm (Disney+) | nicolette.hamm@disney.com