Mike & Sulley Are Tackling the NFL in "Monsters Funday Football"

Mike and Sulley swap screams for touchdowns! "Monsters, Inc." joins the NFL for a fun-filled football showdown.
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Using Sony’s Beyond Sports technology, fans can experience NFL Monday Night Football live, and this time the kickoff is taking place in the animated world of Monstropolis.

What’s Happening:

  • ESPN, Disney, Pixar, and the NFL will bring your favorite Monsters, Inc. characters to the field for Monsters Funday Football on Monday, December 8, 2025.
  • Mike Wazowski and Sulley will join Jalen Hurts and the Eagles and Justin Herbert and the Chargers on the Cheer Floor, a football-ready version of Monsters, Inc.’s Scare Floor. While mostly letting the pros handle the plays, they’ll step in for key moments, competing for Cheer Canisters instead of screams, with the game crowning both a winner and a Cheer Champion.

  • Fan-favorite Monsters, Inc. characters, including Roz and the CDA, will make appearances, while familiar Monstropolis sights like floating bedroom doors and a Cheer Competition Leaderboard set the scene. 
  • Billy Crystal, John Goodman, and Bob Peterson return to voice their characters, and ESPN’s Drew Carter and Dan Orlovsky will call the game live as animated versions of themselves using VR technology. 
  • The halftime show ramps up with Mike and Sulley’s Cheer Canister Competition, and Eagles and Chargers players appear in fun prerecorded segments.
  • The program will fully immerse viewers in Monstropolis with a live, animated Monday Night Football game featuring the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles facing the Los Angeles Chargers inside the iconic Monsters, Inc. building. Using NFL Next Gen Stats along with Sony’s Beyond Sports and Hawk-Eye Innovations technology, this season’s immersive Funday Football experience will transport viewers straight to Monstropolis for ESPN’s Week 14 MNF matchup.
  • Funday Football will be available internationally, live on ESPN platforms and/or Disney+, in Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia & New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Canada (TSN+). Video on Demand will be available on Disney+ shortly after the live broadcast

  • The standard Monday Night Football broadcast, featuring Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters, and Laura Rutledge, will air on ESPN, ABC, and ESPN Deportes, and will also stream live on the ESPN App. Both the traditional and animated broadcasts kick off at 8 p.m. ET.
  • Earlier today, Disney announced an expanded partnership with ESPN, with Sony’s Beyond Sports and Hawk-Eye Innovations set to continue producing alternate telecasts. These broadcasts will use Disney’s vast IP portfolio to turn live games into real-time animated experiences, a concept ESPN first introduced in 2023.
  • Uses of the technology so far have included "The Simpsons Funday Football," "NHL Big City Greens Classic” and "Disney Dunk the Halls."

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