Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Olympics
Football
Netball
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Full Noise by SN
Important update on 1476AMMorris: AFL to embark on NFL-like cartoon simulcast
Tom Morris • April 29th, 2026 9:30 pm
The AFL, Telstra and Champion Data will later this year embark on a trial which could see football recreated for kids in the form of their favourite Disney film.
Following the lead of the NFL, where kids can watch a visual representation of the game in cartoon form, Optical Tracking will be implemented at Marvel Stadium from the midway point of the year.
If successful, this will pave the way for a brand new viewing experience, one which combines reality with fiction.
Optical tracking is camera-based technology which uses high speed cameras to improve fan engagement, coaching innovation, support for umpires, and medical assistance.
Players are tracked in a more sophisticated way than they ever have been before.
The initiative was pioneered by Telstra - with the help of Champion Data - as explained by the company’s head of sports technology, Ricky Cahn.
“We’re on a bit of a journey here,” Cahn said on SEN.
“This year is all about getting about 40 cameras inside Marvel Stadium, up in the gantry towards the roof. They will be tracking everything on the field.
“This includes ball movement and player movement. And once we collect all this data, we believe we will be able to determine in real time when the ball is out of bounds and how far a player runs before they bounce it, to use two examples.”
Cahn’s vision is costly, though Telstra’s partnership with Champion Data and the AFL has meant the three organisations have worked together on this initiative, which will also benefit umpires, coaches and supporters inside the stadium.
“There’s also a fan engagement aspect to this,” he continued.
“Similar to the NFL, where you take all this data and then you can create a virtual recreation of it. The NFL partnered with Disney and Pixar, and there’s a simulcast for kids, which is based on Toy Story. You could watch the actual game in Woody’s bedroom!
“You have all the Toy Story characters playing instead of the actual players in real time.”
While this appears a while off in the AFL, Cahn believes positive trials over the next two years could see it become possible soon after.
He added: “You’ll have parents sitting on the couch watching the game on TV and kids on their iPads in the next room watching the simulcast.
“We can then take all this data from the cameras and we can create new ways for fans to engage with the game, because we can put you in anyone’s shoes on the ground.”
