Just a few weeks after their Simpsons Funday Football, ESPN is continuing their ongoing innovation with the first animated broadcast featuring Mickey and the rest of the Sensational Six. On Christmas Day, following the annual broadcast of the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade, ESPN will present the Dunk the Halls NBA game on ESPN2, Disney+, and ESPN+ at noon Eastern. As the San Antonio Spurs take on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the game will be virtually recreated on a digital Main Street U.S.A.
Many Disney fans have made the parade broadcast a part of their holiday traditions and it is exciting that this year there will be a special basketball game to transition into. To ensure that the show lives up to its potential, ESPN is going beyond just recreating a live basketball game in a digital environment. Instead, they are putting a lot of effort into ensuring the broadcast is its own fun and satisfying production. This starts with an in-universe explanation of why the game is taking place here at all. Like the previous alt-casts (and any good Disney offering, that that matter), this game begins with a story: Mickey makes a holiday wish for Santa to bring the NBA to Walt Disney World. Santa decides to make Mickey’s wish come true — but unlike the last time the NBA played at the Most Magical Place on Earth, this game will be held right down the middle of Main Street U.S.A.
The story of Mickey’s wish-come-true will play out throughout the broadcast in parallel to the storyline of the game occurring on the virtual court. Daisy will be joining the broadcast booth as a sideline reporter while Goofy and Donald will be subbing in for two Knicks players and Mickey and Minnie will replace two Spurs. There will also be additional storytelling content such as a halftime dunk contest and animated explainer videos that share basketball concepts to those that may not be familiar. We got a chance to preview the clip explaining “dropping a dime” and the team made a fun connection to Uncle Scrooge’s famous “lucky dime.”
During a media conference call with some of the team behind the broadcast, their care was instantly evident. Firstly, their digital version of Main Street is instantly recognizable from Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. As it turned out, ESPN worked with the parks to get accurate 3D models of the Main Street storefronts. While care was also paid to ensure the NBA’s players likeness was captured in a fun but accurate way, Disney fans will be happy to know that perhaps even more love was paid to the Disney friends to ensure that the most recognizable characters in the world are true to themselves. They did this by working with someone every Disney fan knows: Eric Goldberg.
David Sparrgrove, ESPN’s Senior Director of Creative Animation, discussed working with Goldberg to ensure their work lived up to Disney’s legacy. “It was just an honor and a privilege to work with Eric. He gave us a tutorial of dos and don’ts to look for. Then the Studio Tech team, which is part of Disney Animation, provided us with character models and rigs for all of the characters. Those were all vetted by Eric and by the team. What we got was incredibly accurate. It set us up for success. As we were animating things, we would shoot it over to Eric. He would take a look at it and provide any notes. I just have to say, an amazing partner to work with. They made the process really seamless for the animation team.”
From Big City Greens to Toy Story and from The Simpsons to Mickey, ESPN has been pulling from across The Walt Disney Company’s storytelling to create unique alternative broadcasts that target a variety of audiences. But there is something special about creating a Christmas Day broadcast — when families are spending time together — that features the crown jewels of Disney’s character library. With the ESPN tile now on Disney+, more Disney fans are being exposed to the world sports leader and I imagine Dunk the Halls will give the NBA even more exposure on Christmas Day.
As Disney fans know, Walt loved sports. Through ESPN’s commitment to the Disney principles of storytelling and innovation, perhaps a new holiday tradition will be born. The NBA game is part of a full-day of Disney+ premieres. In addition to the parade and game, subscribers can catch the Doctor Who special and a new episode of Marvel’s What If…?