NFL Playoffs 2022: Nickelodeon, CBS Sports Are Back With Slime-Filled Wild Card Game, Real-Time AR Graphics Unreal Engine-powered graphics will be available live and on first replays By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, January 14, 2022 - 1:34 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
After taking home a pair of Sports Emmys for last year's NFL Wild Card Game coverage, CBS Sports and Nickelodeon are back with another innovative simulcast for Sunday's 49ers-Cowboys matchup. The alternative presentation (the traditional broadcast will air on CBS) will once again be driven by a surfeit of enhanced graphics and augmented-reality elements featuring Nickelodeon characters and the network's signature green slime. This year, however, these elements will be available in real time and on first replays for the first time.
Everything has been enhanced this year, especially on the animation side, says CBS Sports producer Shawn Robbins, who is coordinating producer for the game and Nick's weekly NFL Slimetime studio show. What the graphics team brought to the table last year was super fun and innovative, and they're taking it to the next level this year. We'll have higher-end animations and will be able to turn them around much quicker, which will really make a difference.
Slime and googly eyes
We re running it back this Super Wild Card Weekend when the @49ers take on the @dallascowboys on @nickelodeon.https://t.co/ssQdVo6tqj pic.twitter.com/5c6UHFxcHs
CBS Sports (@CBSSports) January 10, 2022
Nickifed' Broadcast Version 2.0: Enhanced AR Graphics Offer Player-Tracking This year's NFL Wild Card Game on Nickelodeon will feature enhanced original on-field graphics created by Nick's in-house graphics team, upgraded AR elements (a blimp flying throughout the stadium, the return of the Slime Zone cannons on scoring plays, SpongeBob and Patrick graphics between the uprights reacting to field goals), and player-tracking graphics that use slime trails to show the routes of receivers on first replays.
Most important, many of the graphics can be integrated into the broadcast live or in near real time. Last year, the onsite production truck sent clips to Nickelodeon HQ in New York City, where the graphics team applied elements as fast as possible using Adobe After Effects, and then sent graphic back to the truck to be aired. This year, CBS Sports and Nickelodeon have partnered with The Famous Group to create a real-time/quick-turnaround AR graphics workflow based on Epic Games' Unreal Engine.
An AR blimp graphic will be flying throughout the stadium during Nickelodeon's broadcast.
One of the goals that came down from our senior leadership for this year was to have the graphics be as close to real time as possible - or even live - for the viewer, says Kurt Hartman, VP, animation/motion graphics, Nickelodeon. What we did last year worked great, and we will continue to use [that workflow] this year for some things, but we wanted to allow [viewers] to see these graphics live rather than in just replays or bumpers.
Everything is running in Unreal Engine now, he continues, allowing us to do things in real time rather than with pre-renders, which we had to deal with last year. We feel like that is going to make this year's game a version 2.0.
Real-Time AR: Blimp Overhead, Upgraded Slime Zone, Return of SpongeBob The most visible new element in this year's Nick broadcast will be an AR-powered blimp (based on the iconic Kids Choice Awards blimp trophy) flying throughout the stadium during the game. Although there was briefly a pre-rendered blimp graphic in last year's telecast, this year's AR version running in Unreal Engine will cast lifelike shadows on the field, adjust to time of day, and allow cameras to zoom in and out while it's in frame. In addition to dumping slime on the field and lighting up when teams enter the red zone, the blimp can open up its side and display video, such as replays, crowd shots, or graphics.
Nickelodeon and CBS Sports aim to have graphics integrated into the broadcast live and near-live more often than they did last year.
Viewers will also see a big upgrade to the popular Slime Zone graphics featuring four cannons in each corner of the end zone shooting out slime when a team scores.
We had such a huge response to that last year that we felt like we needed to make it even bigger and better, says Hartman. We've rebuilt and redesigned the cannons, and, since everything is running in Unreal Engine, a camera can actually zoom in on one of the slime cannons and see detail because the slime that's coming out of it is a real-time liquid simulation. The cannons also respond to the lighting and time of day, so they're going to look incredibly real.
Slime Zone will also be used on field goals instead of solely on touchdowns. The SpongeBob SquarePants graphic between the goalposts on field-goal attempts will also be back, but it will more dynamic and react to the result of the kick in real time. Hartman also promises plenty of other eye-catching new slime graphics and characters will debut during Sunday's game.
First Replays and Half-Time Highlights: Slime Trails and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Nickelodeon graphics team has partnered with Second Spectrum and the NFL Next Gen Stats player-tracking system to create slime trails that visually show receiver routes on the field. These elements can be turned around quickly enough to be shown on first replays within the broadcast.
The blimp can open up its side and display video, such as replays, crowd shots, or graphics.
We have some other things up our sleeve as far as telestration and slime trails on the field, says Robbins. Our main goal this year is to get those fun [elements] into the broadcast faster in firs
North America Stories
28/10/2025
ESPN Announces Monsters Funday Football', Its Latest Real-Time Animated Bro...
28/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Catherine Chalfant, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe Ole Miss alum is an operational force behind ESPN's extensive college-football catalo...
28/10/2025
Elevating the experience: AI and data take Ryder Cup to the next level By Joe OHalloran
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 10:25
Print This Story
NBC produced th...
28/10/2025
Conquering the Air (waves): Taking a close up look at the IBC Accelerator Priva...
28/10/2025
World Series 2025: Spectrum SportsNet LA Brings Dodgers Fans Closer to the Actio...
28/10/2025
Dylan Southern and Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Thing with Feathers (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
28/10/2025
Disney, NBCUniversal, FOX, Paramount Each Achieve Double-Digit Monthly Growth
...
28/10/2025
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $...
28/10/2025
Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia Named to Billboards 2025 Top Music...
28/10/2025
NEW YORK As AI usage continues to spike, a new study from IAB delves into an important aspect of how AI is transforming the advertising business with new data s...
28/10/2025
Charlie Jablonski, a broadcast tech pioneer who helped shape the modern era of Olympics television coverage, died Oct. 25 at his home in Lake George N.Y., the N...
28/10/2025
VIENNA, Austria Bitmovin has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insights into video playback. The so...
28/10/2025
LOS ANGELES LucidLink, the file streaming platform, has announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities at Adobe Max....
28/10/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced that it has joined the Ama...
28/10/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in connectivity and signal management solutions, has announced a major update to its Taurus
platform, which now delivers flawless...
28/10/2025
Following a successful mid-September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Hiltron Communications will promote its full range of satellite communi...
28/10/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has chosen MC&S (Media Consulting & Services) as a reseller to help strengthen its presence in France.
With over twenty years of experi...
28/10/2025
Bitmovin, leading provider of video streaming solutions, has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insi...
28/10/2025
Ease Live, the leader in interactive TV technology, today announced the successful launch of interactive graphical overlays for UEFA Champions League matches fo...
28/10/2025
LucidLink, the file streaming platform, today at Adobe MAX announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities, streamlining collaboration and hel...
28/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market....
28/10/2025
Applications Open for Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant Boston nonprofits can apply by December 12 for funding to support community projects that ...
28/10/2025
Scripps Research awarded $4 million to advance platform for neurodevelopmental disorders The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant support...
27/10/2025
You can touch this: Haptics becoming central to the virtual live experience By Adrian Pennington
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 09:12
Print This Story
The vid...
27/10/2025
A tale of two trailers: France's Stop & Go doubles up with its new hybrid tr...
27/10/2025
Pro Padel League Stages City's Cup Finals Inside NYC's Hammerstein Ballr...
27/10/2025
World Series 2025: Sportsnet Delivers Made-in-Canada' Moment for a Nation U...
27/10/2025
ESPN Extends Partnership With Sony's Beyond Sports To Expand Animated Altern...
27/10/2025
Reid Davenport attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Life After at The Ray Theatre on January 27, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Robin Marsha...
27/10/2025
UPDATE: Both parties have reached a new carriage agreement....
27/10/2025
LONDON As Hollywood jumps into the production of mini-dramas, a new study from Ampere Analysis finds that more than one in 10 internet users have watched drama ...
27/10/2025
LONDON Yealink, a provider of unified communication and collaboration solutions, has joined the NDI ecosystem with the availability of its SmartVision 80 premiu...
27/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Chris Conroy as general manager of its stations in Cleveland, leading WOIO, a CBS affiliate, The CW station WUAB and Telemundo outl...
27/10/2025
ESPOO, Finland European connectivity leaders Nokia and Ericsson, have partnered with Berlin's Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), to shape and drive ...
27/10/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast has expanded NOW TV Latino, its Spanish-language live TV and streaming offering, adding five more channels from Univision, ViX Premium with...
27/10/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, will present its latest products and solutions at InterBEE 2025 (Hall 5, Booth 5218) Makuhari Messe in Chiba, ...
27/10/2025
Back to All News
City of Shadows, the New Netflix Thriller Arrives on December 12
Entertainment
27 October 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Downl...
27/10/2025
Back to All News
City of Shadows, the new Netflix thriller arrives on December 12
Entertainment
27 October 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Downl...
26/10/2025
Obituary: Charlie Jablonski, Industry Leader and Long-Time NBC and NBC Olympics ...
26/10/2025
Back to All News
Hiroshi Abe Joins All-Star Cast in Newly Revealed Main Trailer...
26/10/2025
Back to All News
Love Is Blind: Italy Coming to Netflix on December 1st
Entertainment
26 October 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
THE ADAPTATION...
26/10/2025
This year's ROSCon conference heads to Singapore, bringing together the global robotics developer community behind Robot Operating System (ROS) - the world&...
26/10/2025
Back to All News
LOVE IS BLIND ITALY coming to Netflix on December 1st
Entertainment
26 October 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
THE ADAPTATION ...
25/10/2025
LOS ANGELES As the popularity of short-for vertical videos from mobile devices continues to soar, vgames, Pitango and a group of Hollywood executives and celebr...
25/10/2025
LONDON The AI-powered VFX toolkit Slapshot has launched a professional-grade AI camera tracking tool the company said is designed to deliver precise camera sol...
25/10/2025
NEW YORK NAB Show New York said its 2025 edition wrapped up its program on Oct. 23 with 11,500 registered attendees from 95 countries, reinforcing its status as...
25/10/2025
NEW YORK Vimeo said it rolled out new AI-powered features and creative tools that it said will make professional video production faster, smarter and more rewar...
25/10/2025
HOUSTON Regional sports network Space City Home Network has upgraded its audio control room with a Solid State Logic System T S300-32 audio console as part of t...
25/10/2025
BAFTA-nominated cinematographer Annemarie Lean-Vercoe ( Breeders , Call the Midwife , Murder in Provence ) was just the DoP to set the look on sophisticated a...
NFL Playoffs 2022: Nickelodeon, CBS Sports Are Back With Slime-Filled Wild Card Game, Real-Time AR Graphics Unreal Engine-powered graphics will be available live and on first replays By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
