from MediaFile:

No Super Bowl blues; expect big TV ratings

The U.S. economy might be weak, but the Super Bowl still scores with consumers.

The CBS broadcast of the National Football League's championship game on Feb. 7 between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints should draw strong TV ratings, possibly challenging viewer levels not seen since the late 1990s.

"We're looking at a big rating," said Neal Pilson, former CBS Sports president and head of his own sports consulting firm. "The fact that the two conference championships got better than usual ratings usually indicates that there's a lot of public interest."

The NFC Championship game between New Orleans and the Minnesota Vikings drew 57.9 million viewers, ranking it as the most watched conference championship game since the 1981 contest between Dallas and San Francisco that featured "The Catch." It was also the most heavily watched TV program, excluding Super Bowls, since the 1998 "Seinfeld" finale.

Auto show-Super Bowl TV ads don’t score for Mazda

Advertising during the Super Bowl doesn’t score for Mazda.

While the Japanese automaker plans to boost its marketing budget this year as it launches the Mazda 2 small car, running TV ads during the National Football League’s championship game in February won’t happen.

“You’re never going to see us on Super Bowl,” Mazda North American chief Jim O’Sullivan said at the Detroit auto show. “We’re not going to spend that kind of money on that kind of property because, yeah, you get a lot of impressions and stuff out there, but the fact of the matter is, do you really get to the target you really wanted? That’s more of a feel-good ad for a lot of people.”

O’Sullivan said it was a “given” that Mazda’s media budget will be up in the first quarter, as well as for the year, although he didn’t say by how much. He said Mazda, which expects its U.S. sales to possibly rise faster than the overall market this year, will spend more on social media and digital advertising this year as it tries to reach younger buyers for its late summer launch of the new 2 model.

Check Out Line: Are you ready for some (more expensive) football?

Check out what it costs National Football League fans to attend games.

The latest NFL season got under way Thursday night as the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants opened their season with a win (pictured right). For their fans, there were some changes that affected their wallets.

The average ticket price to attend an NFL game rose almost 8 percent to $72.20, according to Team Marketing Report, a Chicago-area sports marketing firm. And if a family of four wants to take in a game played by the Giants, get ready to shell out almost $500 for tickets, beers, hot dogs and other items.

The increases are de rigueur nowadays as the various North American leagues continue to report record attendance and revenues, but cracks may be starting to appear as some fans have begun dialing back spending amid high prices for gasoline and food, and rising unemployment.

Joseph Abboud loves big, burly NFL coaches

Joseph Abboud loves big American guys and to prove it, the apparel maker’s parent, JA Apparel Corp, signed a three-year deal to outfit 31 of the 32 National Football League coaches with its suits and other men’s wear.

The one coach who did not sign on? Hooded sweat-shirt wearing Bill Belichik of the New England Patriots.   Under the deal with the NFL Coaches Club, which manages marketing deals for the coaches, privately held Joseph Abboud will provide tailored clothing, dress shirts and ties and dress sportswear for off the field use through 2011.  “The NFL is the most popular sport now and it’s completely American,” JA Apparel Chief Executive Marty Staff said in a telephone interview. “It all works. All of our competitors are European and this is really a point of departure for us. 

“Also, we love guys who are 35 to 54. We’re not a metrosexual company,” he said, adding he expects the multimillion dollar deal to boost sales and the company’s profile. 

The clothing will not be worn on the sidelines on game day. Staff joked he was glad the apparel will be tailor made at the company’s factory in New Bedford, Massachusetts, as few of the big, burly coaches buy off the rack.   The deal came about after San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Nolan successfully petitioned the NFL last year to wear suits on the sidelines for home games to honor his late father, who wore a suit when he coached the 49ers and New Orleans Saints in the 1960s and 1970s.