After blowing away football fans last year, Nickelodeon’s kid-friendly, slime-filled coverage of the NFL playoffs was back by popular demand on Sunday, and based on Twitter reactions, the novelty hasn’t worn off.
Last year, with fans absent from the stands due to the pandemic, the NFL and Viacom decided to try a little experiment by having the famed kids network broadcast a live sports game for the first time in its 40+ year history during the wild card round of the playoffs. Now the playoff broadcast is back with a matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers, with AR effects adding slime cannons that spray the endzone whenever a team scores.
But the slime isn’t just virtual. Nickelodeon brought 82 gallons of the green stuff to the game with plans to douse players of the winning team. Prior to kickoff, several players on both teams, including Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, agreed to step up if they were victorious.
The broadcast has been so successful that the NFL and Nickelodeon have been looking for ways to expand it. Over the course of the past season, Nickelodeon introduced “NFL Slimetime,” a new weekly show hosted by former NFL player Nate Burleson — who also serves as an analyst during the Nick playoff coverage — that features highlights with the same cartoon special effects seen during Nick’s live broadcast and interviews with “Young Dylan” star Dylan Gilmer and teen analyst Dylan Schefter, daughter of ESPN’s lead NFL reporter Adam Schefter.
All of which begs this question: CBS will next broadcast the Super Bowl in 2024. If kids continue to tune in to these broadcasts on Nick, could we see barrels of slime get rolled out for the NFL’s big championship finale?
For now, see some of the amusing reactions to Nick’s spin on sports broadcasting.