Super Bowl LXI is getting a Star Wars makeover. ESPN, Lucasfilm, Disney and the NFL announced on Oct. 20 that the Feb. 14, 2027 game will get an animated alternate telecast called Star Wars Funday Football.
The broadcast will recreate every play of the game in real time. Players will appear as animated avatars, Star Wars characters will substitute in during key moments, and Easter eggs will be hidden throughout. It streams live on Disney+ and the ESPN App, and it also airs on Disney Channel and Disney XD.
The animation comes from Sony’s Beyond Sports, which combines NFL Next Gen Stats player tracking with Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking to turn real gameplay into cartoon action as it happens.
A teaser shows C-3PO and R2-D2 crash-landing on a desert planet. Anthony Daniels, who has voiced C-3PO since the original 1977 film, returns with new dialogue. The cast of characters, commentators and visual settings have not been announced yet.
It is a first for the big game. ESPN calls it the first animated alternate presentation of a Super Bowl and the fourth animated alternate NFL telecast from ESPN, Disney and the league. The earlier Funday Football games were Toy Story in October 2023 (Falcons vs. Jaguars, which won three Sports Emmys), The Simpsons in December 2024 (Bengals vs. Cowboys) and Monsters in December 2025 (Eagles vs. Chargers).
The game itself is at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The traditional telecast airs on ESPN, ABC and Disney+ with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge. Other options include Super Bowl LXI with Peyton and Eli on ESPN2, a Pat McAfee Show Field Pass on ESPNU, and a Next Gen Stats Playbook on NFL Network.
The timing lines up with Star Wars’ 50th anniversary. A restored version of the original film returns to theaters on Feb. 19, 2027, five days after the game.
