Super Bowl LXI is headed to a galaxy far, far away, as ESPN, Lucasfilm, Disney, and the NFL will present Star Wars Funday Football on Sunday, February 14th, 2027. The animated telecast will feature every play from the Super Bowl, presented in the Star Wars galaxy, with characters from across the franchise joining in. Anthony Daniels, an original 1977 cast member, returns to voice C-3PO. Star Wars Funday Football will stream live on Disney+ and the ESPN App and air on Disney Channel and Disney XD.
Star Wars Funday Football for Super Bowl LXI
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- How the animated Star Wars telecast will recreate Super Bowl LXI in real time.
- Where to watch Star Wars Funday Football, plus the traditional broadcast and other alternate telecasts.
- What Star Wars content is coming to SC+ on Disney+ starting this week.
ESPN produces its first-ever Super Bowl this February, and Star Wars Funday Football gives families a second way to watch it. Disney says the animated game brings the Emmy-winning Funday Football brand to the biggest game of the year. Star Wars characters will share the field with the AFC and NFC champions.
The telecast will recreate every play of Super Bowl LXI in real time, transforming the players on the field into animated avatars. Star Wars characters will sub in during key moments, and Easter eggs will appear throughout the game. Disney calls it “a new way to experience ESPN’s first-ever Super Bowl production” for fans of all ages.
ESPN will produce the game with data visualization technology from Sony’s Beyond Sports. That technology has powered the animated gameplay of Funday Football since the series began. Player tracking data from the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking turns the live action into animation as it happens.
This is the first animated alternate presentation of a Super Bowl and the fourth animated NFL telecast from ESPN, Disney, and the NFL. It all started with Toy Story Funday Football in October 2023, a Falcons-Jaguars game that earned three Sports Emmy Awards. The Simpsons Funday Football followed in December 2024 with the Bengals and Cowboys. Monsters Funday Football then featured the Eagles and Chargers in December 2025. Moving from a regular-season game to the Super Bowl is a big promotion for the series.
Disney says it will share more details as Super Bowl LXI approaches, including the visual settings, commentators, and characters. So far, C-3PO is the only character Disney has named for the game itself.
Where to Watch Star Wars Funday Football
In the United States, ESPN will present the animated game alongside the traditional telecast from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters, and Laura Rutledge will call that broadcast on ESPN, ABC, and Disney+.
Disney+ subscribers can pick either version, as we reported when Disney announced it would stream Super Bowl LXI on Disney+. ESPN’s Spanish-language telecast will be available on Disney+ and ESPN Deportes, with a separate Spanish-language presentation on Univision. Other alternate telecasts for the big game include:
- Super Bowl LXI with Peyton and Eli on ESPN2
- Super Bowl LXI Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show on ESPNU
- Super Bowl LXI Playbook with Next Gen Stats on NFL Network
Fans outside the United States can watch the animated game too. It will stream live in markets including Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, Canada on TSN+, the Netherlands, and sub-Saharan Africa. Japan, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines are on the live list as well. Disney+ will also offer the game on demand shortly after the live telecast in those markets and others. That list adds the United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Korea, and more, for a total of more than 155 markets worldwide.
Star Wars Comes to SC+ on Disney+
Fans can get a taste of the Star Wars presentation well before February. Starting Tuesday, October 20th, SC+, ESPN’s daily SportsCenter show on Disney+, will feature Star Wars “Hyperspace Highlights.” These segments present plays from Monday Night Football with a Star Wars visual theme.
Beginning October 26th, SC+ will also show an animated Darth Vader interviewing an NFL player from that night’s Monday Night Football game each Monday. That first interview arrives the same night the Cowboys visit the Eagles. It’s one of two Monday Night Football games streaming on Disney+ this fall.
The timing lines up with Lucasfilm’s celebration of 50 years of Star Wars. Five days after Super Bowl LXI, a newly restored version of the original 1977 Star Wars returns to theaters on Friday, February 19th, 2027. February is shaping up to be a big month for Star Wars fans!
Keep Reading
- Get the full breakdown of how Disney+ will stream Super Bowl LXI, including the two Monday Night Football games coming to the service this fall.
- Star Wars fans planning a trip can see the all-new lightsaber effects and color-changing kyber crystals at Savi’s Workshop in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
- Look back at how Seahawks players celebrated their Super Bowl LX win at Disneyland, where ESPN kicked off the countdown to its first Super Bowl.
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