‘Monday Night Football’ Goes to the Movie Theater: Cinemark Plans Dallas Cowboys Test Run

NFL fans are used to game day viewing in local sports bars, with lots of screens and friends and chicken wings close at hand. Cinemark is wondering if league fans will swap the small screen for its big screen with digital pictures and sound and luxury recliners with trays for nachos and popcorn. On Friday, Cinemark unveiled plans to bring a Monday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 7 to a first-ever in-market NFL watch party at its dine-in movie theater in West Plano, Texas. We can assume shouting at the referees in a crowded theater may be allowed. Ahead of the game, cinema-going fans can enjoy a tailgate party with a merchandise pop-up shop, and the live game promises immersion to put viewers field-side on game day. Cinemark has also planned concession offerings like star-shaped pretzels, a “blue ritz margarita and collective Cinemark-exclusive cups featuring six Cowboys players.” As part of a partnership with the Cowboys, the live game experience will also include appearances by pro team legend Darren Woodson, Rowdy the Mascot and the Cowboys Cheerleaders. Tickets for Cinemark’s big screen game viewing go on sale Nov. 10, and as part of the industry’s digital projection revolution there’s also $30 tickets for an XD showing on the Cinemark location’s biggest screen, complete with customized surround sound. Sports on the big screen, with food and beverages on sale in the lobby, has been done elsewhere. In Canada, Cineplex has long screened NFL, NHL and NBA games, the Olympics, and UFC and WWE events in its cinema auditorium. It’s not the Metropolitan Opera, but it’s part of the Canadian exhibitor having long offered alternative fare to staple Hollywood tentpoles. And UK Premier League soccer games have filled movie theater auditoriums in the U.S. market in weekend morning time slots. But Cinemark is now bringing an evening, in-market game to its flagship multiplex in Texas for local fans to watch together in the dark, and, as yet, a one-off NFL live game viewing event.