What happens when entertainment and games are not enough?
Tennis and even football are too long for a generation grown on 30-second drums, and therefore in the world of sport plays an amazing crossover.
Animated figures ranging from Dais Duck and Bart Simpson to SpongeBob Squarepants, and his friend Patrick Star takes the place of players during live matches.
Meanwhile, at the Australian Open Bobbleheads, Madison Keys and Russia Daniel Medvedev entered the similar American tennis stars.
On the sidelines of some of these games, the heroes of the toys are encouraged, and Marj Simpson talks about gingerbread.
Sports facilities around the world-a America NFL (National Football League) and NBA (National Basketball Association) to the tennis Grand Slum-pouring these parallel live feeds, looking at the younger multitasking audience.
The goal, says Murne Reid, the director of tennis Australia, is to offer new generations an unconventional way of watching sports.
“Our attention is paid to attracting young viewers who cannot yet be inclined to watch full games in the traditional format,” says Phil Orins, Vice President of ESPN production and innovation technology.
Generations raid and orins refer to what includes the alpha gene, gene z and younger millennia – in fact, viewers up to 34 years.
“These generations are interested in consuming tennis by -emerging, often designed for the phone that are creative and attractive. The function of live chat also contributes to an element that really unites people,” says Raid.
This helps then that many animated broadcasts can be broadcast free on the Internet, eliminating the viewer’s need to make a certain network subscription and on a stationary big screen.
For those who are interested, whether something is necessary, the data may assume.
NFL viewers analysis in the US in 2024, S&P Global Kagan research group showed that almost half (47%) of all viewers exceed 54, only 17% between the ages of 18 and 35.
The decrease in the average viewer is a key part of their animated efforts, David Lekhansky, executive vice-president of business and innovation development in the NHL, shown in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR).
Skin in the game
How does it work yourself? How does the NFL player become a Simpson’s Bart or the Medvedev avatar moves?
The key is the qualitative data tracking technology that fixes in real time where athletes are on the field and how their bodies and limbs move.
For example, at the Australian Open Championship, an electronic call line tracks not only the ball but also 29 points on the player’s body. These data points are used to create a 3D excise each player and animated game. “The data collected 100 times a second by 12 cameras are accepted in the body of our play engine that creates the avatars of the players as well as the experience of the stadium,” says Australia’s Tennis raid.
This happens in seconds, which allows the animated game to unfold with a no more two -minute gap.
The key problem is to ensure real -time data, recognizes orlins of ESPN. “Any gaps in data tracking can create problems with gameplay animation. And each sport is unique problems. For example, football is particularly difficult because players often face and interfere with each other, which may cause gaps in optical tracking data. tracking writing specialized programs for Melge. “
The layering of this data with animated characters is a different level of complexity. In some cases, “their proportions do not coincide with the real players they replace, and for scaling and revitalizing them naturally requires additional programming and revitalize, keeping a smooth viewing,” Orlin says.
It smells like a command spirit
However, leagues and associations make efforts.
In January, the Australian Open became the first tennis big helmet to create all his matches on the YouTube channel.
The players went to the platforms in human form, then turned into an avatar of Nintendo Wii-Style.
This is their third year of animation experiments. “In the first year, 2023, we animated the ball. Then we tried animation only in one court. In 2025, we scale it in three courts. We had a lot of opportunities to study, and it was so fun,” says Reid.
In February 2024, NFL worked with CBS Sports and Nickelodeon television networks to work Spongebob Squarepants and his friend Patrick stars in the sidelines of the Kansas and San Francisco 49er.
The Toy Funday Funday Funday Funday Funday match in September 2023, and last December last year, were fully animated by Game TV shows. These alt cards were transferred to secondary platforms such as ESPN+, Disney+and NFL+, while the actual game was aired on the main networks (ESPN, CBS and Amazon Prime).
In The Simpsons One, Homer and Bart played rivals, and the stakes also thrown: when Bengals Bart won, he may require all Homer’s desserts for the moon; When they lost, he will have to take on Homer’s work for a certain period and do “nuclear things like a loser.” (Bengals won, so Homer is supposedly crying big yellow tears somewhere over his lost desserts.)
At Christmas, the NBA prepared a similar broadcast with the Disney game San Antonio against New York Knicks called Dunko The Halls, which was attended by Mickey Mouse and his post.
“In the future Australian open straight May, we hope to intertwine in more animated entertainment,” says Raid. Think about the animated presenters, coaches and supporters and advanced expressions for players.
“I don’t think these formats will replace the traditional viewing,” the raid adds. “But they will open the game for viewers who like to consume their content more games.”
