Dan Orlovsky has four children who are Eagles fans and Disney devotees, so he couldn’t turn this opportunity down. On Monday night, the former NFL quarterback will provide analysis for ESPN’s animated Monsters Funday Football alternate broadcast of the Birds’ matchup with the Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
The alt-cast, which will air on ESPN2 (as well as the Disney Channel and Disney XD) and stream on Disney+ at 8 p.m., will be a real-time animated broadcast set in the universe of Disney/Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. franchise. It will be the third edition of the Football Funday series, which was set in The Simpsons’ Springfield last season and in the Toy Story franchise in 2023.
Orlovsky was on the call for the Simpsons broadcast last season, but his children are far more excited about this year’s broadcast.
“When I had told them I got asked to do Monsters, it was an excitement that was different,” Orlovsky said. “My wife is from Philly, and my kids are crazy Eagles fans. So, when I told them [it was] Monsters and it was an Eagles game, it was, like, to the moon.”
The alt-cast will use real-time player tracking data to place Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, and the rest of the Eagles in the animated Monsters universe, where they’ll face off against the Chargers inside the cheer factory in Monstropolis.
The real-time animation is handled by Beyond Sports, an AI-based data analysis and visualization company owned by Sony. Using data from NFL Next Gen Stats and Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking, Beyond Sports’ virtual recreation engine will animate live action between the Eagles and the Chargers for viewers.
Drew Carter and Orlovsky will call the game from ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn., while wearing tracking suits that allow them to pilot characters in the Monsters universe.
“We’re in a big studio and they set up a couple monitors where we can watch the regular live broadcast,” Carter said. “We have that synced up with our animated broadcast, which makes it easier to see what’s happening. But, for the most part, I’m looking at 22 cartoons running around and trying to decipher what’s happening.”
Carter has done play-by-play for all three of ESPN’s Funday Football alt-casts as well as its animated Big City Greens NHL broadcast. He has high praise for the technology that makes the broadcast possible, but he is preparing for the Eagles’ signature quarterback sneak to push the system to its limits.
“If they do the Tush Push, I don’t know what’s going to happen to the technology,” Carter said. “It’s going to be very hard to spot the ball when everyone’s animated. That’s the time where I’ll look at the live game.”
Carter also calls other live events for the network, but the animated games require an extra layer of preparation, especially when he’s unfamiliar with the source material, as he was for The Simpsons alt-cast. Fortunately for Carter, he’s already familiar with Monsters, Inc., which came out when he was a young child. Still, he circled back to the 2001 film and its 2013 prequel, Monsters University, to prepare for Monday’s broadcast.
“It is kind of like prepping for a regular game,” Carter said. “You just don’t want to be caught off guard by anything. We have an element that rolls in and it’s, for example, the pig from Monsters University. I don’t want to be like, ‘Who the heck is that?’ because I’ve only seen Monsters, Inc.”
Orlovsky was already very familiar with the Monsters franchise. He has made 15 trips to Disney World with his children. One of his oldest boys, 13-year-old Madden, is interested in animation and drawing and is particularly drawn to the Monsters movies.
“I’ve seen Monsters, Inc. and Monsters U a dozen times, if not more,” Orlovsky said. “I know the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor in Disney World very well. I have a son who is autistic and his superpower is animation and creation. Obviously, that’s one of the cores of Monsters, Inc. when it comes to their characters. So I know it very well.”
For Orlovsky, the more difficult aspect of the broadcast will be doing less of his X’s and O’s analysis and leaning into the animated aspect of the game.
“No one who’s watching our alt-cast is watching it for football,” Orlovsky said. “Everybody is watching it for the unique element of it. … My default is to be very football-centric, and so I have to just be very conscious of understanding [that] no one’s watching that game for the football part of it.”
While the Funday Football broadcasts primarily target younger audiences, Carter says the broadcast can be enjoyed by anyone of any age. John Goodman and Billy Crystal will voice their characters from the film franchise, James “Sully” Sullivan and Mike Wazowski, who will explain basic football rules for young viewers in prerecorded cutaways during the broadcast. There will also be an animated short during halftime that will feature Mike and Sully battling to collect cheers from the crowd.
“I’m an adult who’s watched football my entire life, and I find those interesting, even though I know the rule they’re explaining,” Carter said. “I just think it’s funny to hear John Goodman as Sully explaining what a football is.”
Orlovsky hopes the broadcast can provide a different experience for football fans and the opportunity to enjoy the game as a family.
“If you’re a family that, you know, you don’t watch the football game together, try this one together,” Orlovsky said. “If your kids and you don’t necessarily stay up late for Monday Night Football, this would be the one time to do it, because it’s just a very different way to take in the game. It’s going to be visually a very cool experience. I think it’s just a great way to share football.”
For Eagles fans who want to check out the Funday Football broadcast but do not want to miss out on the experience of watching the regular broadcast, the animated alt-cast will be available on demand on Disney+ shortly after the game ends.
