In what might be the strangest crossover in recent memory, the NFL and Pixar are teaming up to promote American football worldwide with a unique simulcast game.
The Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars will play a regular season game in Wembley Stadium in London on October 1st.
The overseas game has become an annual event as the NFL looks for ways to spread American football around the globe.
But this year, there is an added wrinkle.
While the game is broadcast on ESPN+, it will be simulcast in animation form on Disney+, powered by Pixar and starring many of your favorite Toy Story characters.
The Disney version will feature animated football players recreating the real plays in the game going on in Wembley.
Buzz and Woody and the rest of the Toy Story gang will participate throughout the game from the sidelines.
Similarly, the NFL players from the Falcons and Jags will pre-record messages that will be played throughout.
The event will also have a special half-time event featuring the Evel Knievel-like Pixar character Duke Kaboom, who will attempt a death-defying motorcycle jump.
The simulcast event is the latest in the marketing push by Disney to create crossover events among its assets.
A few years back, the NBA featured a Marvel superhero game again promoting a crossover between EPSN and Marvel, both owned by Disney.
The MLB has embraced an annual Star Wars-themed event on May 4th celebrating the movie franchise also owned by Disney.
This year’s crossover between Pixar and the NFL comes at a time when viewership of football among younger is down.
Is this the antidote? Or just another poorly thought-through marketing ploy aimed at renewing interest in football among kids?
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