In a first for the burgeoning realm of alternate live sports telecasts, an upcoming NFL game will be adapted in real time as a fully animated contest taking place in the Toy Story universe.

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Using the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and on-field tracking data, every player and play will be presented in “Andy’s Room,” the familiar, brightly colored setting for the Toy Story franchise. The action will be virtually simultaneous with the main game telecast, with most plays recreated after an expected delay in the neighborhood of about 30 seconds. Woody, Buzz Lightyear and many other characters will be visible throughout, and a press release notes they will be “participating from the sidelines and in other non-gameplay elements.” Along with game action, the announcers, graphics, scoreboard, referees’ penalty announcements, celebrations and other parts of the experience will all be rendered in a Toy Story-centric fashion. – per Deadline

I gotta be honest, I’m torn over this one. I love the NFL. I love the Toy Story franchise. But I kind of hate this idea.

Don’t get me wrong, it looks incredible and will probably be a lot of fun to watch but this is not a video game. These are real players who could get really hurt. What happens if a player blows out their achilles like Aaron Rodgers did? What will that animation look like? What if god forbid someone gets knocked unconscious and the stretchers are called out?

It’s not like devasting injuries don’t happen literally every single game of the year. It’s a part of the game. If you are watching the players in a traditional setting and a player gets hurt there is inherently some sympathy that goes out to the player and their family. It’s a human experience but if someone gets concussed and it’s just like a rag doll getting bounced around we will lose that human element.

This might be a great idea but the NFL is the wrong sport to try it out.