Football season is again upon us, and for marketers it's one of the best ways to reach the affluent, largely male audience that attends college and professional games.

And their options extend well beyond the signage surrounding the playing field, to include ads on food trays and cups, at seats, in concourses and restrooms, and even in parking lots before the games.

To find out how to get your client’s message in football stadiums, read on.

This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts

What
Advertising at football stadiums to catch pigskin fans at the game.

Who
Multiple companies offer ad options in and around stadiums. For this article Media Life spoke with InStadium in Chicago, StareWays in Millburn, N.J., Street Blimps in Garden City, N.Y. and Sports Media in Silvis, Ill.

How it works
The most familiar form of stadium advertising is signage around the playing field, and one big advantage is that it's often picked up by television cameras where the games are televised, bringing exposure to hundreds of thousands of viewers beyond the fans in the stands.

Ads on scoreboards are also available in many markets, as well as messages on goal posts and water coolers.

Stadium signage is typically sold by the stadium or the team, but there are some forms of stadium advertising that can be bought through ad networks that can place the advertiser's message in a number of different stadiums.

Here are some of the other stadium ad venues.

Advertisers can target fans as they're coming to the game by placing ads near stadium entrances, on stairways, and along interior concourses leading to the stands. StareWays is one of a number of companies that offers such programs.

Ads can also be placed on drink cups, food and beverage trays and on cup holders at seats, as well as on cards that are placed in cup holders before the game begins. The options are available through Sports Media, among others.

And between quarters or at halftime, advertisers can reach fans through signage in restrooms. There can be a dozen or more ads per restroom. Chicago's InStadium is one of a number of vendors that offer restroom advertising.

At Seattle’s Qwest Field, advertisers can run spots on TVs that are mounted along concourses and in stadium lounges. Sports Media provides that service.

Marketers can reach fans in the parking lots as they're tailgating or waiting in line to enter the stadium, using street teams to hand out literature and talk up their product.

Just this weekend, the Texas Lottery ran such a campaign at two college football stadiums. Teams riding Segway scooters handed out promotional material. The campaign was handled by Street Blimps.

Markets
Advertising in professional football stadiums is available in any market where there’s a team, and those account for 32 of the nation’s top DMAs. For smaller markets, advertisers can put their messages in college football stadiums.

Numbers
In 2007 the NFL set an attendance record for the sixth straight year, with 22.3 million paying to see games. During 256 regular season matchups, average attendance per game was nearly 68,000.

How it is measured
Companies use attendance data from the stadiums and TV ratings if the game was televised. Concession sales data is used for items such as branded cups and food trays.

What product categories do well
Any category that's targeting upscale males is appropriate for stadiums, from automotive to beverages, cell phones, entertainment and banking services.

Demographic
The average NFL fan is likely a male (64 percent) and with better than even chances of being between the ages of 35 and 44.

Making the buy

InStadium: Lead time is typically seven to 10 days. Pricing varies depending on the scope of the campaign.

Sports Media: For concession trays and cup-holder inserts lead time is about two weeks after art approval. For branded cups lead time runs between four and six weeks. Pricing varies by product but a four-drink tray with a one-sided four-color ad has a cost-per-thousand of $380 with 1 million trays purchased. Cup holders are $5 per seat per year for pro sports and $4 for college, where permissible.

Street Blimps: Lead time for street teams is two to three weeks. Pricing depends on the size of the team, which can run anywhere from four to 150 people.

StareWays: Lead time is one month. Pricing varies based on the size of the installation.

Who’s already at football stadiums
LG, Pepsi, MasterCard, Texas Lottery, Coca-Cola, Sony PlayStation, MLB.com, Miller Lite.

What they’re saying
“I’ve talked to Fortune 1,000 CEOs and when you bring up NFL they’re not interested because of the stigma from the price of Super Bowl TV spots. But we’ve done deals for different price levels even in the $30,000 to $50,000 range.” – Dan Kosth, CEO of Sports Media

Web site info

InStadium
http://www.instadium.com

Sports Media
http://www.sportsmedia.net

StareWays
http://www.stareways.com

Street Blimps
http://www.streetblimps.com