The various Nickelodeon NFL broadcasts over the years have often been themed around specific Nick properties, including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for this past NickMas. But the SpongeBob universe has often been involved, from an intro to the first alternate broadcast in 2021, a ManningCast parody in 2022, and Fagerbakke providing in-character commentary as Patrick for the second half of the 2022 Nickmas game. Bryson said the SpongeBob universe was the perfect fit to base the whole show on this time, and getting Kenny and Fagerbakke in the booth the full time was part of that.
“We’ve had a lot of fun with a lot of characters, and I think every year we keep growing, on them appearing on the field, appearing in the stands. We had Patrick last year on the NickMas game come and call the game for the second half, and it was just great engagement, he was amazing. And those actors, Tom and Bill, who have been doing the voices for 25 years, are amazing, and they bring those characters to life, and they just have fun.”
Bryson said commentary from SpongeBob and Patrick should be a good fit for helping kids new to football understand the game as well.
“And one of the things we always try to do is bring a younger voice into the booth. We did that last year with Gabby Green, and then when Patrick came in, he had a little bit of football knowledge, but obviously not as much as Nate and Noah. So that was a fun way to look at it, and we thought this year ‘Why don’t we add onto it by bringing in SpongeBob who has zero football knowledge, and him and Patrick will be there?’
“They’re just going to add a little fun to the game, and they ask the questions that a kid would ask while watching the game. And Noah and Nate are really able to bounce back with them and really kind of inform them on what’s going on, help them with the rules and all that. We just find it works so great to have our characters there and bring them to life.”
The broadcast will feature a performance of “Sweet Victory,” from season two SpongeBob episode “Band Geeks,” which came out on Sept. 7, 2001. And Bryson said the SpongeBob elements on the broadcast go beyond just the booth, too, with other characters involved down on the field. That will include Sandy Cheeks (voiced by Carolyn Lawrence) doing sideline reporting and Larry the Lobster (voiced by Mr. Lawrence) providing live commentary.
“We worked really closely with the SpongeBob team this year, and we’ve had a lot of fun bringing them into the game and figuring out different ways to use them. We’ll also have Sandy Cheeks on the sidelines reporting, and we’ll also have Larry the Lobster on the field maybe talking to some players. So we’re just really kind of bringing them in all around, really additive to the game itself and helping enhance the broadcast.”
Robbins said it’s also crucial for them to have an analyst like Burleson who’s able to get nuts-and-bolts NFL analysis across in a way that works for kids, making this broadcast something both adults and children can watch together.
“Philosophically for us, it’s that co-viewing experience. How do we deliver the game where everybody finds it enjoyable across the board? How do we create teaching moments? It’s our announcers. It all starts with Nate Burleson in the booth, and Noah Eagle of course, but Nate, the way he delivers, how he speaks to the audience he’s speaking to. He’s a different guy when, he’s obviously done NFL games, he’s obviously done the The NFL Today studio, but it really starts with Nate and how he delivers this to the kids. He really is the starting point in what we’re doing.”
Bryson said their goal is to try and make the Nickelodeon broadcast an engaging experience for kids in every way they can. That also includes having Dora the Explorer (voiced by Diana Zermeño) and Boots (voiced by Asher Colton Spence) explain penalty calls, and NFL Slimetime‘s Young Dylan and Dylan Schefter reporting live from the stadium during the game.
“Obviously the game action is the same across both broadcasts, but it’s what we do with our announcers, our sideline reporters, and even with the graphics. We have Dora the Explorer and Boots, they’re going to pop up and explain penalties for kids like we’ve done for games in the past.
“That’s what we really try to speak to, kids and co-viewing, to really help explain better the game and make it more engaging for a younger audience to participate in. We’ve got a lot of tricks up our sleeve and a lot of fun moments that we’re going to bring to the game while obviously still celebrating the game and what’s going on, and we do that kind of all around the board with the announcers, the graphics, all the elements.”
And Robbins said they have huge support from the various Nickelodeon animation teams on this.
“There really is a large portion of this, the infrastructure…it really is using all of the Nick animators, everyone is involved on the Nickelodeon team, working side by side with us on this, including the teams at Dora and SpongeBob. Their fingerprints are on this game as well. So this really is a full-on touching of the company here.”
He said they also have major production support from the CBS team.
“We’re a side-by-side broadcast to the CBS broadcast. What’s great is we’re using the whole backbone of CBS to get this on the air. It’s all flowing through Patty [Patty Power, CBS Sports executive vice president, operations and engineering] and her group and Harold [Harold Bryant, CBS Sports executive producer and executive vice president, production] and the production team there as well as our own production team.
“So we have access to all the cameras that the game will have, and then we have our own cameras as well that are doing our own augmented reality. We’ll have a set of about 12 cameras that we’re going to work off that will be our main cameras. We are cutting an independent game to what the main broadcast is doing because of the layers and layers of AR that we’re doing. We have our own truck, we have our own graphics truck.”
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“It’s going to blow people away. When they see what we’ve done with the stadium, just the whole thing. And it’s the real players you’re seeing on the field, it’s the real ball that they’re catching, it’s the real face that they’re making. So that’s really important to us. And that really helps that co-viewing experience that we want to deliver, where dads and moms can watch the game and it doesn’t interfere that much with the broadcast, it just enhances the broadcast with what we’re doing to keep the kids engaged.
“And it’s just going to be spectacular when you see the stadium; it’s the stadium that you’re used to seeing, but the roof is gone, it’s in an abyss. Our submarine, the Nick Blimp, which is now a submarine, will be able to leave the stadium and come back into the stadium. It really is football reimagined in this Bikini Bottom SpongeBob world.”
While many of the elements here are only workable at Super Bowl scale, Robbins said as with everything the Nickelodeon team does, Cohen’s remote technical operations team is working with them to see what comes out of this that can be used on both regular CBS broadcasts and alternate Nickelodeon ones going forward.
“Jason Cohen, I think with everything that we do, tries to do that. He’s hit me up on a bunch of things, things that get developed on the Nickelodeon side and with his team, of course. Jason’s always saying ‘How do we bring this into the broadcast?'”
Cohen said he thinks the Nickelodeon broadcasts particularly stand out as an example of how augmented reality can boost a broadcast.
“What I love about the Nickelodeon show, and others can back me up on this, is I think it’s the most perfect use case for augmented reality in a live broadcast, a way where AR can truly help enhance the storytelling. It’s not AR for the sake of AR, it’s augmented reality with a useful purpose because it actually advances the storyline, it helps the actual play on the field come to life with a unique perspective that has some flavor about it. That’s what I love about it the most, it takes that technology and merges it with storytelling in probably the most compelling way.”
And Bryant said the Nickelodeon broadcasts provide some excellent experience for CBS, and give them things they may be able to tie into traditional broadcasts in the future.
“This is a great complement to the main broadcast to engage with younger audiences, and that’s the main goal, to engage with other audiences and build the depth there. There are going to be some great learnings, and we’re going to use some elements in the main broadcast down the road.”
Super Bowl LVIII on Nickelodeon will air there Sunday beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET.
