Marketers just love football season

— -- The National Football League and the National Dairy Council are going to team up to promote picking up the pigskin — rather than pigging out — to students across the country.

A marketing pact between the two groups will be announced next week, and its goal will be to tackle childhood obesity by educating kids about exercise and good nutrition. The dairy council, working with the league, will deploy the five-year, $250 million national school health program.

While the NFL will pocket a sponsorship fee, "The vast majority (of the money) is really tied to running these programs in schools and also tied to the National Dairy Council providing grants to schools that adopt these programs," says NFL marketing director Peter O'Reilly.

Part of the deal is that NFL players will make school visits to tout exercise. The groups will also create a "playbook" that outlines activity ideas such as flag football.

This school year, the program will be launched in about 50 schools in seven test markets. It will expand to about 40,000 schools in the next few years, says Jean Ragalie, council executive vice president.

That partnership is one of the 20 major marketer tie-ins the NFL has as it begins the regular season. The kickoff game was Thursday night. The sponsors, including brands such as Pepsi, Samsung and Visa, collectively will spend more than $1 billion on NFL-themed promotions this year.

While most NFL advertisers target men 25 to 54, a league link also can be a way to reach women and specific demographic groups, such as Hispanics, says Mike Reisman, a principal at sponsorship marketing agency Velocity Sports & Entertainment, which works with several NFL sponsors.

The sport "has broad appeal," he says. "The NFL and football are big parts of both small-town and urban America. People really get drawn to it."

Among companies looking to score with tie-ins:

•The Dairy Council. For five years, the group has worked with individual NFL teams to promote nutritionally sound fare such as low-fat and no-fat dairy products. The new agreement is broader and more "comprehensive," says Ragalie. "We'll work with all 32 teams plus the National Football League organization."