Eagles will turn into cartoon characters for upcoming ‘Monday Night Football’ game
After broadcasts featuring "Toy Story" and "The Simpsons," ESPN is turning to Pixar for a "Monsters, Inc." animated telecast in December.
Jalen Hurts, welcome to Monstropolis.
ESPN is bringing back Funday Football during the Eagles’ Week 14 game against the Los Angeles Charges on Monday Night Football, where all the players will be transformed into Monsters, Inc. characters in an alternate broadcast designed for kids.
The game will be available on ESPN2, DisneyXD and the Disney Channel. It will also stream on ESPN Unlimited and Disney+. Drew Carter and Dan Orlovsky will call the alternate broadcast, while Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will handle Monday Night Football’s regular broadcast on ABC and ESPN.
It’s the third year the network is going to the IP well in an attempt to make a fun family broadcast, though the 8:15 p.m. Eastern kickoff time might be too late for kiddos across the Delaware Valley. Previous seasons featured Toy Story (2023) and The Simpsons (2024).
If you haven’t seen this before, ESPN will have cartoon versions of the players mimicking every play in real time. Last time, that led to Homer Simpson throwing a touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb.
This time around it will be Mike and Sulley from Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. films, voiced by Billy Crystal and John Goodman, respectively.
ESPN will also produce an animated alternate broadcast for a Christmas Day NBA matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks, which will feature Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters.
The network announced Monday it signed an expanded agreement with Sony’s Beyond Sports that will expand its animated telecasts across more of ESPN’s sports through 2027, including an unnamed WNBA game in 2026.
ESPN also has the so-called “Manningcast,” an alternate broadcast featuring Peyton and Eli Manning. They’ll be on hand after the Eagles’ bye to cover the Birds’ Monday Night Football matchup against the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 10. As will former Eagles center Jason Kelce, in his second season as an ESPN analyst.
Doesn’t appear there’s much of an appetite for the political Stephen A. Smith
It’s not exactly breaking news to say the NBA is more popular than American politics.
So it shouldn’t be surprising ESPN star Stephen A. Smith hasn’t converted his TV audience — largely made up of sports fans — to listeners of his politics-friendly podcast.
The Washington Post’s Dylan Wells ran the numbers. Straight Shooter With Stephen A., which launched in September on SiriusXM’s POTUS channel, averages just 35,000 downloads and views a month, according to the podcast analytics firm Podscribe.
By comparison, Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s podcast, Hold These Truths, averages 364,000 downloads and views a month, while California Gov. Gavin Newsom garners a monthly audience around 1.6 million.
Smith, a former Inquirer reporter and columnist, has flirted with running for president since President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, saying back in April he was “serious” about a possible campaign. More recently, he’s downplayed his interest in hitting the campaign trail in 2028, saying a presidential run was “highly unlikely” at the Forbes BLK Summit earlier this month.
“I ain’t trying to give up my money, I can tell you that right now,” Smith said.
Maybe Smith read a new poll released by the University of New Hampshire Monday, where 0% of Granite State respondents listed him as their preferred candidate. In fact, 16% of those surveyed had an unfavorable view of the ESPN talker, third-worst in the poll behind former Vice President Kamala Harris (17%) and former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel (19%).
Quick media hits
ESPN login for Xfinity customers coming? Sources confirmed Comcast and Disney agreed on a new carriage deal earlier this month, as first reported by Puck’s John Ourand. One thing remains to be sorted out — when will Xfinity customers be able to login for free into ESPN Unlimited, the network’s new direct-to-consumer service? Sources say the delay is tech related and is being worked on, but it’s unclear how long that will take. So for now, no free ESPN Unlimited for Xfinity subscribers.
Disney vs. YouTube: Speaking of carriage disputes, ESPN is warning the network will go dark on YouTube TV if the two companies don’t agree on a new deal by midnight on Oct. 30. It’s the fourth time in three months companies have taken their negotiations with YouTube down to the wire, though the previous three ended with deals. I didn’t see an ominous warnings during Monday Night Football on YouTube TV last night, which could be a positive sign.
“Goh Birds!:” Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert had a big game Sunday, but happily invited comedian and Cumberland County native Shane Gillis to crash his postgame interview with NBC10’s John Clark.
Cushy schedule: Charles Barkley and the Inside the NBA crew will be back Wednesday night on ESPN, then their schedule will get light. The beloved crew will be part of the network’s coverage just two more times through the end of the year — Nov. 12 and Dec. 25. The Sixers’ first game on ESPN won’t be until Jan. 14 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.