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Thursday, September 17, 2026

NFL Returns to Nickelodeon With First Alternate Super Bowl Telecast

  • CBS and the NFL will air Super Bowl 58 on Nickelodeon as the league eyes younger viewers.
  • Nick’s kids-centric NFL broadcasts have spanned four games since 2020, now will make Super Bowl debut.
Nick’s kids-themed NFL broadcasts have spanned four NFL games since 2020.
Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Super Bowl will have an alternate telecast on another network for the first time on Feb. 11 with a kids-focused broadcast on Nickelodeon.

CBS Sports and the NFL announced the telecast Tuesday, marking an evolution of the NFL of Nickelodeon telecasts that debuted in a 2021 Wild Card playoff game and returned for a Christmas game each of the past two seasons. Nate Burleson will be in the broadcast booth for the “Slime-covered Super Bowl” alongside other Nickelodeon personalities. 

Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas will be broadcast on CBS, whose parent company Paramount Global also owns Nickelodeon, to make the alternate telecast a natural fit. The Nickelodeon presentations aimed at children and families include slime-filled end zones with animated graphics of SpongeBob Squarepants and other Nick cartoon characters.

“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,” NFL media executive vice president Hans Schroeder said in a statement. 

The Nickelodeon Super Bowl broadcast will also air in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand on a delayed basis, according to the Associated Press. It will mark the third time that an NFL playoff game has aired on Nickelodeon. 

Nick’s first NFL simulcast between the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears in the 2020 NFC wild-card round game averaged 2.06 million viewers. Last season’s Christmas game between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams averaged 906,000.

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