The effort to increase youth athlete participation can often start with something simple: putting a ball in a kid’s hands, running them through one drill, and leaving them with a taste of what the sport is like. In my sports marketing class, we discuss this as the effective Learn -> Feel -> Do approach to driving participation.
This is on full display at this year’s NFL Super Bowl Experience in San Francisco, where kids had an opportunity to experience different facets of the sport, including:
- 40 Yard Dash
- Agility Courses
- Passing Accuracy Challenge
- Route Running & Catching
- Vertical Jump
- Extra Point Kick
With the rapid growth of flag football, particularly girls’ flag, there’s a better sense that these activations are more inclusive each year.
It was also great to see the corporate partners integrate football experiences into their Super Bowl activations, including:
- The FedEx Air Challenge and Ground Challenge are passing and running games.
- Snickers, which puts kids through an agility course before making a “satisfying” catch.
- Invisalign is running kids through different drills as part of its “where confidence clicks in” effort.
- Pizza Hut and Barstool partnered on a QB experience to take a snap from under Center.
Overall, the Super Bowl Experience and other activations are great for letting kids test drive football. The next step: Pop Warner.