Super Bowl LVIII takes place on Sunday, and there’s usually something for everyone, whether it’s the game, the halftime show, the overpriced commercials, or the puppy bowl. Well, now there’s even something for kids to enjoy about the Super Bowl: SpongeBob! CBS Sports and Nickelodeon are joining forces to broadcast the game live from SpongeBob’s home turf of Bikini Bottom. The broadcast will feature SpongeBob, Patrick, and CBS Sports’ Nate Burleson and Noah Eagle. Bikini Bottom’s Sandy Cheeks and Larry the Lobster will also make appearances as a reporter and commentator. This is so freaking adorable.
SpongeBob SquarePants (voiced by Tom Kenny) and Patrick Star (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke) will be going live from the booth in the alternate, kids-friendly telecast airing on Nickelodeon. The dynamic duo will be joined by CBS Sports analyst Nate Burleson and play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle. Meanwhile, Sandy Cheeks (voiced by Carolyn Lawrence) will serve as a sideline reporter as Larry the Lobster (voiced by Mr. Lawrence) provides live commentary.
“We are so excited to just go into this massive sports event and just be goofy and silly, and make it a fun experience for kids and Nickelodeon fans,” Fagerbakke, 66, tells PEOPLE.
“There’ll be so many other Nickelodeon characters involved,” he continues to tease. “We’re going to have Plankton and we’re going to have, I’m sure Squidward and Mr. Krabs will be in the stands. It’s going to be a lot of fun. And the announcers, Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson, they’re all in for fun too. So, we’re going to have a good time.”
Kenny, 61, notes that “the conceit is that the Allegiant Stadium has been transported to Bikini Bottom through a crazy series of events having to do with an invention of Sandy’s there.”
He teases, “That gives the animators, the technicians, the computer guys, us, the real live sports casters that Bill mentioned, license to take the game into a whole new level of oddball silliness because you’re going to be looking at the Super Bowl the same way it is if you watch it on a conventional broadcast — but there’s jellyfish and bubbles and craziness and cartoon characters running through frame, just this whole overlay of insanity making the Super Bowl even weirder and crazier than it is normally.”
Although Sandy Cheeks voicer Lawrence, 56, hopes Bikini Bottom’s villainous Plankton “doesn’t try to do something” to disrupt the fun, Fagerbakke predicts that “he will.”
For Kenny, “Part of what makes it cool is that if you’re a football newbie or a younger member of the family who maybe is just learning about football or just getting interested or getting on board, this will be a nice primer for that.”
“There’s little interstitial things, tutorials and things about football terminology and gameplay and all that,” he adds. “SpongeBob and Patrick, at least, are the perfect people to learn, too, because they don’t know anything about football. They’ve never seen football. Everything they know about football, they learned from their Texas pal Sandy Cheeks.”
This is so cute! My kids love SpongeBob and all of the various spin-off shows. I know they’ll get a kick out of watching this for a little while, at least. My older son, who doesn’t actually watch football, adopted the Kansas City Chiefs as his team back in 2020 because his best friend is a fan and wears Patrick Mahones jerseys to school. This SpongeBob thing will make it much more fun for him to pay attention now. I don’t even want to wonder what the logistics are or if it will be cheesy or not. It’s clever and creative and the kids and longtime SpongeBob fans will enjoy it. Oh, and the Bikini Bottom residents aren’t the only Nick ‘toons getting in on the fun. Dora the Explorer and Boots will also show up during the big game to help explain penalty calls. I love this all so much.
Photos are screenshots from YouTube
the boat run looks hilarious.
Anyway I’ll be asleep but I could use a tutorial like that, I just did a The Guardian quiz and got 4/22 or something. American Football isn’t really that big here, the original football is
(and I’m a bit facinated that there is a sports game where the cartoons&the halftime show almost overshadow the main event)
I’m going to a party where they’ll be showing the “normal” broadcast but tbh I’d rather stay home and watch this now. It’s reminding me of the Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie episode of The Simpsons where Homer asks if the episode is going to be broadcast live and June Bellamy tells him no because it’s a terrible strain on the animators’ wrists. It also reminds me of the time I saw a group interview with all the voice actors on The Simpsons and it confused my tiny peabrain so badly to hear/see the characters voices coming out of real people that I thought I was gonna have a stroke, so anyway I hope the kids are okay.😆
Oh my goodness! This looks so entertaining. I don’t get any cable but I would definitely watch if I did.
I bet your bikini bottom dollar they’re doing it to boost raitings, now that teen Swifties are now suddenly on board watching the NFL.
Its a genius move. I guarantee that’s why lol.
Their doing it to try and get kids hooked on football. Viewership for football has been going down for a few years now. And parents have stopped their little kids from playing in pee-wee leagues because of injuries. Read an article at least a year ago about high schools worried about not having any football player soon. Because of not any pee-wee players. So no high school players, then no college players. Then no NFL. This is why they are really pushing the Taylor Swift cut aways also. Trying to get more girls and women interested in football.