SpongeBob, slime to highlight Nickelodeon Super Bowl telecast
SpongeBob and Slimetime are coming to the Super Bowl.
The NFL and CBS Sports announced Tuesday that this season's Super Bowl will have a kids-centric presentation on Nickelodeon, marking the first time the Super Bowl has had an alternate telecast on another network.
CBS has the rights to Super Bowl 58, which will be played in Las Vegas on Feb. 11, 2024.
"We're thrilled to partner with CBS Sports and Nickelodeon to present the first alternate telecast of the Super Bowl," NFL media executive vice president Hans Schroeder said in a statement. "Our previous telecasts on Nickelodeon have been huge hits and created a new and different way to experience an NFL game. We're excited to bring that creativity to Super Bowl 58 and give our fans another way to enjoy one of the world's most popular sporting events."
This will be the fourth season that CBS and Nickelodeon have teamed up but the first time the partnership will do more than one broadcast. For the second straight year, Nickelodeon will have a game on Christmas when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Super Bowl broadcast will mark the third time an NFL playoff game has aired on Nickelodeon. It had a wild-card-round game during the 2020 and '21 seasons.
The Nickelodeon presentations -- which feature eye-popping graphics that feature slime-filled end zones or SpongeBob SquarePants between the goalposts on field goal attempts -- have also received plenty of acclaim for their ability to introduce a younger age group to the basics of the game while remaining focused on the action happening on the field to keep parents interested.
The first broadcast, which featured the New Orleans Saints against the Chicago Bears in a 2020 NFC wild-card-round game, averaged 2.06 million fans. Last season's Christmas game between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams averaged 906,000.
The Rams' 51-14 rout was known more for SpongeBob sidekick Patrick Star roasting Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson after an interception.
"That's not what he wanted to cook," said Star, who is voiced by Bill Fagerbakke, after Wilson was picked off by Bobby Wagner during the first quarter.
"We are unbelievably proud to partner with CBS Sports and the NFL to bring Nick's personality and unique visual sensibility to the Super Bowl," Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon CEO Brian Robbins said in a statement. "As we've shown with our prior zeitgeist-busting Wild Card and Nickmas coverage, combining the absolute excitement of NFL action with the creativity that can only come from Nickelodeon's cool POV makes for a must-see event for kids and families everywhere."
Nickelodeon and CBS have not announced who will be part of the crew for this season's games. Noah Eagle, "NFL Today" analyst Nate Burleson and Nick star Gabrielle Nevaeh Green were in the booth the past three seasons.
The Nickelodeon Super Bowl broadcast will also air in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand on a delayed basis.
