A trial run took place during the Dec. 6 Philadelphia Eagles-Green Bay Packers game to test graphics, animation and filters. Shawn Robbins, who will be the game’s coordinating producer, said Nickelodeon animators were able add their touches to certain plays and get them ready to go in less than 5 minutes.
“We had a live feed coming out of the Green Bay rehearsal and I was really blown away. It was so entertaining, fun and innovative,” McManus said. “We’re going to be able to respect the integrity of the game, but all the animations and the fun stuff is really going to make it look and feel very, very different than a CBS broadcast, which it should. I think it’s really going to be fun.”
Noah Eagle, the radio voice of the Los Angeles Clippers and son of longtime CBS play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle, will call the game along with “NFL Today” analyst Nate Burleson and Nickelodeon’s Gabrielle Nevaeh Green. Lex Lumpkin, who stars with Green on “All That,” will be a field reporter.
Nickelodeon will air “The SpongeBob SportsPants Countdown Special” before the game. The 30-minute show will be hosted by Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller and features SpongeBob’s best sports moments.
“When Sean told us that this is really going to happen, we were thrilled and excited. But the next day after that was, well, how do we make this different? So we really put our creative teams together,” said Brian Robbins, the president of ViacomCBS Kids & Family Entertainment. “I think we’ve come up with a really fun and differentiated broadcast, that we know that our kids, you know, the Nickelodeon audience should really enjoy along with their parents.”