For some, Super Bowl 2023 is the second-biggest game around on February 12. That’s because Animal Planet is back again with its annual Puppy Bowl (it’s Puppy Bowl XIX, if you’ve been keeping track, or the 19th iteration if you refuse to do Roman Numerals). Basically, it’s the Super Bowl for dogs.
This year’s event features 122 puppies, benefiting some 67 shelters and rescues from 34 states. It’s all in good fun — dogs aren’t doing anything untoward, though occasionally a penalty flag is thrown for accidentally leaving it all out on the field. There’s plenty of wrestling and tugging of toys, and lots of water breaks. And you’ll also learn the stories of the pups themselves, as well as the organizations that enable their adoption.
Just like the real Super Bowl, there’s also a halftime show. Instead of a world-class entertainer, though, we’ll have kittens. It’s the Kitty Halftime Show.
And other fan favorites like the water-bowl cam, the slo-mo cam, end-zone pylons, and the Puppy Cheer Squad all will be on hand, too.
How to watch Puppy Bowl 2023
The Puppy Bowl is played on the same day as the Super Bowl. The pregame show (of course, there’s a pregame show) starts at 1 p.m. ET, with the main event kicking off at 2 p.m. Or pawing off. Or however puppies get their game started.
The Puppy Bowl is an Animal Planet production, so that’ll be the main way to watch. Animal Planet should be available on every major platform, from streaming to cable to satellite.
If you’re not set up for any of that yet and are looking for an inexpensive way to watch, you can snag a free trial of Discovery+ and watch that way (the service is $5 a month after the seven-day trial).
It also looks like the Puppy Bowl will be available live on TBS, and also on HBO Max (all of those channels and services now fall under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella, so that makes sense).
