One of the more pleasant surprises of 2021 so far came when Nickelodeon got its own broadcast of the NFL playoff game between the New Orleans Saints and the Chicago Bears. The Saints came out on top, but the big story of the broadcast was that Nickelodeon did such a good job that people actively sought it out and wanted to see this happen again.
The bad news is that we’re not getting a full-blown Nickelodeon Super Bowl broadcast on Sunday, but we are going to get some fun stuff from the network in the lead-up to the showdown between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Starting on Friday evening at 8 p.m. EST, Nickelodeon will air a preview show called the Nickelodeon Super Duper Super Bowl Pregame Spectacular, hosted by Gabrielle Nevaeh Green and Lex Lumpkin, both of whom were major parts of the game broadcast earlier in the year. Per a release, “the show will feature Super Bowl fun facts, ‘Nick-ified’ season highlights and predictions of this year’s winning team with help from special guests.”
The rest of the weekend will include a handful of Nick-inspired ways to cover the game. CBS’ Super Bowl pregame show will include a Nickelodeon segment with Green and Lumpkin, while CBS Sports Network will air a number of highlights from the first half of the game that get the Nick treatment as presented by Nate Burleson, whose appearance in the booth during the Saints-Bears broadcast drew plenty of praise.
Perhaps we’ll get a full Nickelodeon version of the Super Bowl the next time CBS has broadcast rights for the game. In the meantime, we have this, and hopefully whomever wins the game’s MVP award can get covered in slime or something.