Feb. 11, 2024, marks an auspicious day in the history of American athletic competition — with the arrival of Puppy Bowl.
This year, the stakes are higher. The competition is even more fierce. The program’s control booth is staffed entirely by dogs between the ages of eight weeks and 12 months, nowhere near expert enough to understand the ins and outs of television production, which will no doubt lead to some catastrophic standards violations. It would be unreasonable to assume that they’ll know how to properly use the six-second delay when they’re not even housetrained.
And where can you, gentle viewer, tune in to witness the action? The drama? The most diabolically watchable collection of puppy footage since Captain America got covered in small dogs?
Where is Puppy Bowl XX streaming?
This year, as every year, the Puppy Bowl is set to air on Animal Planet. Don’t freak out, cable cutters: Folks who don’t have Animal Planet can rest easy knowing that, in this marvelous digital age, almost anyone can watch three hours of small dogs getting up to all sorts of business. You can watch the event simultaneously via Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max, and Discovery Plus.
And frankly, why wouldn’t you? This show looks set to have everything a viewer could want, with Team Ruff and Team Fluff going head to head for the tenth year in a row, continuing a Washington Generals/Harlem Globetrotters-esque rivalry that strains fans’ extension of disbelief.
131 players from across the U.S. are expected to participate, including the largest and smallest puppies in Puppy Bowl history — a 70-lb Great Dane named Levi, and a 1.7-lb dog named Sweetpea of indeterminate lineage. Like, yeah, Usher is playing the Super Bowl halftime show, but is he a baby Great Dane who doesn’t understand how big he is, playing around on a miniature football field and figuring out what’s what? No, he isn’t. He’s just some guy from The Faculty.
The whole affair ramps up at 1pm ET with a pre-game show featuring interviews, genetic tests, and a special look at the halftime show, featuring more kittens than you can shake the studio’s damage deposit at.
And that’s not all. As has always been the case with the Puppy Bowl, the event is designed not only to test the stain resistance of astroturf, but also to raise awareness of animal adoption. In light of that noble pursuit, the folks at Warner Bros. Discovery have agreed to match all donations made to the Best Friends Animal Society during the week of Puppy Bowl XX, from Feb. 7 to Feb. 14, 2024.