The NFL is going to have a lil’ fun with it.
The league announced on Tuesday morning that they’ll be simulcasting the Jan. 10 Wild Card Game at 1:30 p.m. on children’s channel Nickelodeon, which will feature “original on-field graphics, virtual filters and more.”
CBS gave a sneak preview of what that will look like in a video posted to Twitter. According to the Sports Business Journal, it will include superimposed slime dumps in the end zone, close-ups of players filtered with googly eyes and other graphics and animated re-enactments of plays from previous games. Also, according to the video, a SpongeBob SquarePants kicking net.
SpongeBob, Slime, and Googly Eyes, @NFLonCBS and @Nickelodeon will present the NFL like you’ve NEVER seen it before on Wild Card Weekend.
Details on the January 10 broadcast here: https://t.co/NK00FW2vsN pic.twitter.com/x3wf1dqaIk
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) December 15, 2020
“The NFL is very intent on reaching a younger audience, and we thought this would be a great way to do it,” CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus told The Athletic. “When we went in to give our pitch to the NFL, this was front and center in that pitch. They loved it right at the outset.”
The game will be hosted by Noah Eagle, Nate Burleson and Nickelodeon star Gabrielle Nevaeh Green. It will be preceded by the The SpongeBob SportsPants Countdown Special, hosted by Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller, which will feature SpongeBob’s best sports moments and also cameo’s from Jim Nantz and Tony Romo.