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NBC Sports made its first foray into doing a National Football League (NFL) alternate broadcast on December 21 when it put the matchup between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs into the realm of the Madden video game universe.
It is the first time NBC has done an alternate broadcast of an NFL game. CBS has done at least one game on Nickelodeon since the 2020 season, while ESPN/ABC have the ManningCast as well as animated presentations featuring The Simpsons and Toy Story.
“It’s ironic that you want to make the video game as much as actual live play as possible and now you are doing the opposite of trying to make the real game look like the video game,” said Josh Helmrich, the NFL’s senior director of media and Next Gen Stats.
The altcast on Peacock blended video game elements—such as Madden 25 graphics, route trees, player cards, button icons on eligible receivers and player ratings—with live action. GeniusIQ provided real-time data via the league’s Next Gen Stats.
There were also times when animations from the video game—such as touchdown celebrations—were used instead of live action.
NBC has used the “Sunday Night Football” games as test broadcasts to make sure all the technology was working, as well as build cohesion in the studio in Stamford, Connecticut, with the announcers doing the game.
Paul Burmeister handled the play-by-play with Madden NFL expert Kurt Benkert and six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Chad Ochocinco providing commentary. Burmeister noted earlier in December that there would be more hardcore football schematic chess match talk on the altcast compared to what might happen on a traditional football broadcast.
“I’m really excited to toe that line and weave this in to show how much parallel the game has to the real game itself,” Benkert said. “I think will resonate really well with the younger audience and with people that are used to seeing it in the video game that way.”
This article was provided by The Associated Press.