By 2 pm, the stadium parking lot was full. Pennants were flying, canopy tents up, tables and chairs out, music cranked, and beanbag games in full swing. Charcoal and gas grills – full of wings, burgers, shrimp, sausages, pork shoulder and ribs – were smoking, and hundreds of football fans were huddled around propane heaters and wood-burning fire pits to warm up from the December chill. Five fun-filled hours later, the tailgaters headed into the stadium, just in time for kickoff.

You might be surprised to learn it was not an NFL contest that drew the fans to this football tailgate party. It was not even a battle between Big 10 college rivals. This tailgate event was held before a high school sectional game in New Jersey, a state hardly noted for a devotion to Friday night lights. These kind of tailgating events take place before football games on the high school, college and professional level all across the country nearly every weekend from September through Super Bowl Sunday.

Football is not just Americans’ favorite sport, it borders on a national obsession. Despite some negative publicity recently, a Harris poll shows 35 percent of Americans identify NFL football as their favorite sport and 11 percent say college football is their favorite sport, for a combined 46 percent. Baseball is next on the list, but at a distant 14 percent.

The passion for football transcends gender, demographic and socio-economic boundaries. Millions of people – both men and women – take part in office pools, participate in Fantasy Football, and watch the sport on television. According to the website “TV by the Numbers,” more than 202 million unique viewers, representing 68 percent of all potential viewers in the U.S., watched NFL football during the 2014-2015 television season. During that period, NFL games accounted for all of the top 20, and 45 of the top 50 most-watched television shows.

Grilling, barbecuing and smoking are an integral part of the football experience. Not only is it the quasi-official tailgate cuisine, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as one of the top 10 grilling days of the year. The latest Weber GrillWatch Survey even reveals that 21 percent of Americans say football was their motivation to grill in weather below 32 degrees.

The Power of the Pigskin

There are many ways specialty retailers can tie into the football phenomenon to grow sales. Here are some ideas:

Tailgating

According to Randy Dye, publisher of Tailgater magazine, tailgating is big business – 75 million people in North America participate in the activity. Of those, 64 percent have incomes greater than $112,000; 61 percent tailgate five times a season; and 78 percent host up to 19 people at their parties.

Dye says tailgaters spend $600 to $800 annually on new gear (not including tickets or food), with the top purchases including coolers, grills, alcoholic beverages and outdoor furniture. Tailgaters have a strong willingness to try new products (81 percent), and like to be the first among their peers to do so (51 percent). Even better, they have a strong desire to tell others about these new products (72 percent).

Tap into this potential new business by positioning your store as the tailgating headquarters in your area. Stock and promote portable charcoal and gas grills, tool sets in handy carrying cases, accessories such as jalapeno pepper racks, and new, conversation-starting products that would appeal to tailgaters.

To attract attention in-store, designate a tailgating “department” or prominent display area for this gear throughout football season, and be sure to merchandise with colors, signage and home-game schedules from local high school, college and/or professional teams. Use your website and Facebook page to promote your store as a tailgating headquarters, and consider running ads in the local high school or college game programs or on-field video screens.

Home-gating

Football tailgating is no longer exclusive to stadium parking lots. Fans are just as likely to fire up the grill and invite the neighbors to “home-gating” parties to watch the game in their indoor – or, increasingly, outdoor – living rooms. According to Dye, the popularity of home-gating has “exploded,” coinciding with a substantial decline in season ticket sales over the last decade.

“In the past 10 years, NFL ticket prices have increased more than 50 percent, the cost of parking has doubled on average, and even a beer is up about 35 percent to an average price of $7.53,” he says. “A lot of people now prefer to enjoy the game on a big-screen TV in the comfort of their home. It’s less expensive, there’s less hassle, the beer is cheaper, and the bathroom lines are shorter.”

A promotion comparing the cost/benefits of season tickets and stadium tailgating, versus a tricked-out outdoor living space for home-gating, could be the ticket to increased Outdoor Room sales. The argument is convincing: instead of spending thousands of dollars on season tickets to attend eight regular-season home games a year, an investment in an Outdoor Room provides enjoyment nearly every day of the year.

Given that the price of a season ticket can run as high as $7,000 per seat, plus parking fees, tailgating expenses, and other miscellaneous costs, that Outdoor Room would pay for itself very quickly.

According to Dye, tailgating consumers are open to this idea: 52 percent indicate the bulk of their home improvement dollars have or will go to outdoor and indoor home-gating upgrades. Fifty-seven percent will spend an average of $35,000 and up on these upgrades, including indoor/outdoor kitchens, fireplaces and fire pits, TV and sound equipment, furniture and outdoor building structures. Convey your cost/benefit comparison message to tailgaters/home-gaters in your area, and you could score a host of qualified leads for your Outdoor Room business.

Super Bowl

Over 111 million people watched the Patriots play the Seahawks in the last Super Bowl. For many of those viewers, the event was as much about the food as the actual game. Studies show Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest day of food consumption in the U.S., right behind Thanksgiving. According to the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, Super Bowl is one of the top 10 most popular grilling days of the year, with 31 percent of people grilling on Super Bowl Sunday.

Food and beverage companies have long realized how effective tying in with the Super Bowl can be in promoting their brands. Beyond the iconic – and exorbitant – Super Bowl commercials, many companies hold recipe contests, competitions, sweepstakes or other events leading up to the big game.

Phil Lempert, food trends authority and author of the Lempert Report, says, “Using popular events like the Super Bowl to create a buzz around a store and get shoppers involved is a great way to engage customers and bring in new ones.”

A Super Bowl-themed recipe contest featuring grilled or smoked appetizers, entrees, or other game-day fare can generate excitement in your store. Have customers submit recipes; then post them in-store, on your website and/or Facebook page, and invite the public to vote for or “like” them. The recipe with the most votes/likes in each category wins. Winners get a gift certificate to your store (so they’ll come back, shop and hopefully spend more), or get merchandise prizes donated by your suppliers.

Promote the winning recipes afterwards in-store, on your website and through social media, being sure to highlight any accessory products you carry that were used in the winning recipes, such as pizza stones, cedar planks, wood chips, beer-can-style chicken roasters, etc.

Weber Q1200 from Weber-Stephen.

Home Team

Partner with the local high school on a football-themed fundraising promotion in support of the school’s athletic teams or PTA. Hold a cook-off in your parking lot with competitors recruited from your customer base, with the high school football coaches as judges. Or, for a fun twist, turn it into a grilling match-up between sports teams and other groups from the high school (e.g., football, soccer, basketball, cheerleaders, marching band members, teachers, parents) who compete against each other. Ask the local newspaper’s sports reporters to be judges, and invite parents, students and other supporters of the school to attend and sample the results.

Promote the event through the school’s Booster club and PTA, on your website and through social media. Create a hashtag for the event and encourage individual teams to post, tweet, Instagram and otherwise share information about it. The team with the most attributable hashtags gets extra points on their score sheet. Donate attendees’ admission fees, as well as a percentage of any sales made during the event, to the school. The cook-off is a sure-bet for publicity, so invite local print, television and radio media to cover it.

Fantasy Football

Perhaps the most fanatical of all football fans are those that participate in Fantasy Football. According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, this year, an estimated 56.8 million Americans will draft their own personalized team of NFL players, whose individual statistics are combined to compete against other fantasy teams in the league using a point system. Interest is exploding – up from 12.6 million participants a decade ago – with a host of television and radio programs now devoted to the topic, as well as apps to track players in real time.

National Fantasy Football Draft Day (usually in late August) – when participants in the Fantasy league get together to draft teams – is another promotion opportunity for barbecue retailers. Offer tips and recipes for stepped-up football grub to serve at Fantasy Football Draft Day parties – and be sure those recipes incorporate seasonings and accessory products you sell. This would work for NFL Draft viewing parties, as well.

Class Act

Consider holding cooking classes with football themes, such as “Beyond Burgers and Brats: New Ideas for Game-Day Grub,” or “Super Super Bowl Fare,” featuring make-ahead grilled and smoked recipes so you won’t miss the game (or commercials). Of course, not everyone watches, or even likes, football. Try hosting a cooking class on a football Sunday and promote it as a fun alternative for gals or guys who would rather not watch the games.

There’s only one question remaining…Are You Ready for Some Football?!!