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Every Super Bowl Sunday, people who don’t care about football but do like parties will make bean dips, google who’s playing, and head to friends’ homes to pass four hours grasping just enough of the action to tweet about it. These people tune in during commercial breaks and at halftime, while grazing the wings spread during the actual game. These people back a team based on whether or not its quarterback is portrayed as a nice person. And these people’s lives changed forever in 2005, with the first airing of what is now the second-highest-rated TV event on Super Bowl Sunday: the Puppy Bowl.

Last year, 10 million people tuned in—that’s as many as watched the finale of Breaking Bad—to see puppies run in circles inside a miniature fake stadium filled with chew toys, and to cheer when a pooch happened to carry a toy into what had been deemed an end zone. Mostly the dogs just take the toys from each other. When asked if the Puppy Bowl is the most beautifully stupid stunt she’s ever participated in, Melinda Toporoff, executive producer at Animal Planet, says, “Oh, no question. No question! Yes. Look at the set—it’s ridiculous.”

In honor of the 11th-annual event, premiering Sunday, February 7 from three to five P.M. (and then repeating on a loop until three A.M.), here‘s a bit about how it’s made and how it all began, along with some spoilers from Sunday’s big game.

The players take the field in this sneak preview of the 2016 game.

Courtesy of Animal Planet.

Wendy Douglas, who is currently the vice president of production at TLC but was with Animal Planet in 2005, recalls, “A few people were gathered in an office and said we should do something as counter-programming to the Super Bowl. This idea came up: let’s get some puppies together, and play on football and the N.F.L., and run it for hours, like people watching the Yule log burn for hours.” Many of the show’s hallmarks were there in the first year: having the animals enter as if in a starting lineup, and sharing their names and bios like player stats. During the first hour of that premiere broadcast, female viewership was up 67 percent from the same time slot the year prior. “It was very buzz-worthy,” Douglas says. “At that time, you hadn’t seen anything like it. It definitely brought attention to Animal Planet.” The show had no sponsors that year, but Bissell, Subaru, and Pedigree quickly signed on for 2006. Geico came onboard later, nabbing stadium-naming rights.

Men watch the Puppy Bowl, too, of course—including Steve Martin, Paul Feig, and Zach Braff, based on their tweets about it in years past—and viewership has continued to increase year after year. “We just thought it would be fun counter-programming. And it’s now this big pop-culture event,” Douglas says. Toporoff adds, “If I look at the entire portfolio for Discovery [Networks U.S.], I would say it’s probably the second-biggest title, right behind Shark Week.”

Still, Animal Planet knows it isn’t actually competing with the Super Bowl. The puppies are closer to complementary programming than counter-programming. First, the press release for that first production, in 2005, suggests “viewers can spend the day (or maybe some time between the big plays)” watching. Second, the broadcast of the game reruns for 12 straight hours. "Third, the most viewers the Puppy Bowl ever received, 12.4 million in 2013, came as a direct result of the Super Bowl blackout, which drew a 54 percent increase in viewership during that segment."

This year’s referee is a skunk. He’s already wearing the requisite black and white.

Courtesy of Animal Planet.

But there’s no shame in riding the Super Bowl’s 114-million-viewer coattails, when the platform promotes animal adoption and rescue organizations. All of the dogs, about 80 a year, come from shelters across the country, and the show has a 100 percent adoption success rate. This year, Animal Planet is introducing a Hall of Fame segment, to highlight the importance of adult-pet adoption. Former Bills and Redskins player Bruce Smith will induct four Puppy Bowl M.V.P.’s (from seasons VI, X, and XI), who returned to New York for the taping.

While the Super Bowl is definitely not about saving lives, the two franchises still have a lot in common. Here are the Top 10 similarities you’ll find among this Sunday’s two big games.

The Farewell Bow

Fans, experts, and the media all speculate this will be the final game before retirement for Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who turns 40 in March. It will also be the last game for all of the puppies. They have to be 12 to 24 weeks old to be eligible, so they age out every year. Another fun fact: there are 13 years between the two quarterbacks in this year’s Super Bowl. (The Puppy Bowl doesn’t have quarterbacks.)

The Scene-Stealing Newcomer

Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, drafted in 2011, is garnering a blitz of attention for his unconventional style of play. The Puppy Bowl has a newcomer this year, too: Stanley the Skunk, who will assist the referee. Stanley will also steal the spotlight. Because he is a skunk.

The silkie chickens who serve as this year’s cheerleaders.

Courtesy of Animal Planet.The Cheerleaders

The Internet is already awash with sexy photo spreads of busty N.F.L. cheerleaders who’ll shake and kick on Sunday. The Puppy Bowl objectifies it’s cheerleaders, too, and also its players. Past squads have consisted of bunnies, pigs, hedgehogs, and penguins. This year, the cheerleaders will be silkie chickens, just because, as Toporoff explains, “I have an obsession with silkie chickens. I mean, they look like Muppets. You can’t not smile when you see them. Best was that, when they showed up, according to their rescue volunteer, they weren’t camera-ready—you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a silkie chicken blow-dried.”

The Peyton Controversy

Al Jazeera discovered that human-growth hormone was delivered to Peyton Manning’s house, addressed to his wife. Watch dogs are investigating whether or not Manning, who vehemently denies the charge, used steroids. The puppies have had all their shots.

The Cam Controversy

Cam Newton’s critics dislike his showiness. For example, he posts a lot of selfies on social media. Puppies don’t have cell phones, but the Puppy Bowl does feature a tweeting chicken named Meep.

The Cheating Controversy

N.F.L. fans and Patriots alike are all still reeling from last year’s Deflategate scandal. Even though its players are innocent, adorable dogs, the Puppy Bowl is not free of scandal. Toporoff warns, “I think you’ll see, with one of the chew toys, there’s an issue. We had to stop down the game, and the ref had to investigate a bit.”

The M.V.P.’s

Besides Newton and Manning, football fans are excited to watch Panther linebacker Luke Kuechly, who had a pick-six in both of the team’s final playoff games, and Bronco linebacker Von Miller, who’s already averaged 12 sacks a season in his five-year N.F.L. career. In this year’s Puppy Bowl, look out for Star, a chow chow Labrador mix, who stayed up late to see the super moon, and Atticus, a husky Labrador mix, who is a fan of hip-hop music.

Don’t change the channel: you’ll risk missing the turtle streaker.

Courtesy of Animal Planet.The On-Field Action

The Super Bowl is all about the turnovers. The Puppy Bowl is all turnovers. And players tackled by their own teammates. You’ll enjoy the slow-motion replays even more.

The Celebrities

Kim and Kanye, Jennifer Garner, Rihanna, and all manner of stars have been spotted at recent Super Bowls. The Puppy Bowl too attracts it’s fair share of celebs, including, over the years, Janeane Garofalo and Allison Williams, who visited set with her dad and almost walked home with a dog.

The Production

The Super Bowl is shot over about four hours. The Puppy Bowl is shot over two full days. On the first day, a collection of kittens perform in the kitty halftime show. In this case, perform means sit and stare at the camera, or completely ignore it, along with the spinning feathers, catnip-filled toys, and laser devices set to encourage them to do anything at all.

On the second day, the actual game is shot. In this case, game means 10 hours of playtime, which is then edited to two hours, and given an invented narrative of plays. Also, the puppies are filmed in shifts. The smaller dogs go first and the biggest last. If an animal looks like it isn’t having fun, it will be removed by it’s handler. “We don’t make them do anything,” Toporoff explains. “That’s probably our secret sauce. Puppies are fascinating to watch. They’re like babies or fires. What they do naturally is captivating.”

That much footage—72 hours in total this year, across all of the cameras—is needed in order to get enough usable time, because the dogs rarely enter a designated end zone, and because they constantly pee and poop. “And once one starts, you’re in trouble,” Toporoff says. “But we do have people on poop patrol. Literally.”

The Unexpected

The blackout. Janet Jackson’s nipple. The Puppy Bowl has its own share of surprises. This year, producers were unable to stop a turtle streaker from entering and crossing the field. Toporoff’s final word of warning for viewers: “Shield your children’s eyes.”

The 2016 Puppy Bowl Puppies1 / 15© 2015 Discovery CommunicationsTEAM FLUFFCOOPERGreat Pyrenees / Collie, 15 weeks
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