The National Dairy Council and the National Football League (NFL) are teaming up to promote healthy eating and exercise in schools across the country. A huge touchdown for America’s dairy farmers!
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.
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.”