The NFL, ESPN, and Disney teamed up for a unique broadcast Sunday when the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons were animated into the world of “Toy Story.”
The innovative, kid-centric broadcast came with everything from Slinky Dog handling chains duty on the sideline and a claw machine spotting the football. It also had some choppiness and glitches that were too much for some viewers to handle.
Buy Jaguars TicketsHere’s a roundup of reactions to the Disney+ stream:
It took less than a minute for the Toy Story broadcast to break pic.twitter.com/9jYDm8CyUF
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 1, 2023
i'm dying at the Disney + Toy Story NFL broadcast, where the announcers are just doing sincere, adult-focused play-by-play and analysis but every once in a while they have to go "and oh no, Zurg is here!"
— Pat Reber (@patreberyeah) October 1, 2023
There have been some glitches but the Toy Story game is really well done.
The NFL has a chip in each player's shoulder pads to track movement & then combines that with Hawkeye optical tracking (like tennis) to animate the game in real-time.
Great work 👏pic.twitter.com/8NBWg5MKdz
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) October 1, 2023
Toy Story broadcast is incredible.
The ball has a mind of its own, the announcers are trying to talk about the game normally because they’re so uncomfortable, sometimes we get to see the plays, Slinky Dog is running the chains.
— Kyle (@Miamisportstats) October 1, 2023
The Big City Greens NHL broadcast was way better (I have three kids)
— Steven Godfrey (@38Godfrey) October 1, 2023
They’re having some technical issues on the Toy Story game, but my 3 year old just asked me to take her to a Toy Story game in London… so it’s working pic.twitter.com/kO5462B61k
— ThatsGoodSports (@BrandonPerna) October 1, 2023
i do earnestly appreciate the ambition but back to the lab
— charles (“you look good” – andy reid) mcdonald (@FourVerts) October 1, 2023
Yea the @nfl and @Disney got this Toy Story broadcast right! My mini-me is loving it 😂
— Damien Woody (@damienwoody) October 1, 2023
The alternate broadcast, which is exclusive to Disney+, is the first of its kind for an NFL game, but the second after an NHL game between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals. Players in that game were animated into the world of the Disney Channel show “Big City Greens.”
At halftime of the Jaguars’ Week 4 game, they had a 17-0 lead thanks to a 30-yard touchdown from Trevor Lawrence to Calvin Ridley and a 61-yard pick six for Darious Williams.
