End zones will be filled with superimposed slime during next month’s NFL Wild Card game telecast on Nickelodeon. Additionally, when a player mugs for the camera following a big play, cartoonish googly eyes — or some other Snapchat-type of filter — will be superimposed onto him during replays. Nickelodeon’s production, which was part of CBS Sports’ winning bid to carry the game, will have a distinctly Nickelodeon look-and-feel — one that the NFL hopes will have more young viewers sample the game scheduled for Jan. 10 at 4:30pm ET. “This is going to look different than a normal CBS broadcast, and I think the NFL understands that,” said CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus. “They really see the value. They are intent on reaching a younger audience. They think that’s where the fans of the future are. They think this is a really cool idea.”
Noah Eagle will call the game in the Nickelodeon booth, with CBS’ Nate Burleson and Nickelodeon’s Gabrielle Nevaeh providing analysis. Nick’s Lex Lumpkin will be the sideline reporter. Nick’s pregame show will be “The SpongeBob SportsPants Countdown Special” hosted by Broncos LB Von Miller. The halftime show will be a sneak peek of “Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years,” which debuts on Nick later in the year. After a touchdown, the Nickelodeon telecast will cut to an animated SpongeBob and his friend Patrick screaming “Touchdown!” “They are the kinds of things, I imagine, that if all goes well after this broadcast, that you’re going to see on the Internet for days and days to come,” said ViacomCBS Kids & Family Entertainment President Brian Robbins. “They’re really cool visuals.”
Many of the advertisements will be the same across both the CBS and Nickelodeon telecasts, McManus said, though Nick will have some different ads more tailored to its younger audience. CBS Sports’ ad sales team is handling ad sales for both telecasts. Right now, McManus does not anticipate the CBS telecast adding any of the Nickelodeon graphics. “I don’t close any doors,” McManus said. “If there’s some kind of activation graphically that makes sense on CBS, I wouldn’t necessarily say no to it. But right now, it’s planned to be a traditional broadcast.”
CBS and Nickelodeon tested the “Nickified” game during the Dec. 6 Eagles-Packers game. “Something that happens on a previous drive, maybe by the next commercial break we can have that Nickified play come back to the truck,” said CBS Sports Coordinating Producer Shawn Robbins. “That’s what we were testing.” Robbins said the test worked out well, with replays coming back to the production truck quicker than anticipated. “It was the most unique thing I’ve ever seen doing football for a while,” he said. “In realtime, replays were pushed to the Nick animation studio and sent back to the truck.”