by Hugh Fisher
Contestants compete in December in the National Tailgating Leagues Cornhole Tournament outside of Bank of America Stadium during the ACC Championship Game.
HUNTERSVILLE – Tailgating parties have traditionally been a place for food, drink and general merriment. But a Huntersville company believes there’s more potential at these blacktop bashes.
The National Tailgating League is the brainchild of Todd Hirschfeld, CEO and founder of HMS Worldwide Marketing. “I’ve been in motorsports my whole life,” Hirschfeld said.
Around the conference room in the offices of the National Tailgating League are photos of NASCAR stars and autographed memorabilia. The league is a way to branch out, building on that love of racing to find ways to reach new audiences.
In 2009, Hirchfeld said, he and friends went to a sporting event and walked through the parking lots where tailgaters had built their makeshift playground.
“All these people are playing all these games around us, cornhole and ladder golf,” Hirschfeld said. “These people love to play these games, but there’s no real official sanctioning body behind them.”
The idea came to him to build a traveling play area where people could compete, with stats and specially designed play areas. And marketers would have a chance to get their brands in front of an audience for a longer time as players and spectators gathered for tournaments.
Almost immediately, Hirschfeld said, Budweiser came on board as a primary sponsor, pushing the number of events from four in 2009 to about a dozen in 2010.
Its College Tour stopped at five colleges, where teams competed in tailgating games with a chance for top players to compete at last month’s ACC Football Championship game in Charlotte. Despite cold weather and rain, Hirschfeld said about 200 people watched Steven Vanderver, of Ohio, and Dale Smith, of Kentucky, team up to win the cornhole tournament and its $6,500 prize.
From a recreation and marketing standpoint, he said, it’s an idea that works. People spend hours at a time at the league’s festivities.
“Your brands are right there for an extended amount of time, and we throw the biggest and baddest parties,” he said.
The league also has partnered with charity groups, including the Kasey Kahne Foundation.
Visitors pay a fee to play games, and the proceeds go to benefit a good cause.
He estimated that the group has raised more than $5,000 for various charities within the last year, though his staff didn’t have specific numbers available.
Despite the quick success of the concept, Hirschfeld said he doesn’t want to see the league get pigeonholed and only associated with people tossing beanbags, for instance.
He’s looking ahead to Nerf football tournaments, table games and other kinds of outdoor activities.
Promotions Manager Chris Dotson said the league’s offerings could be customized to fit the tastes of local markets.
“Everything from a full-size basketball hoop to any number of games,” Dotson said. “The footprint is constantly changing because you don’t want the event to be stale.”
While Hirschfeld has built on his motorsports background to get the league off the ground, he said its future is wide open.
“We can become the event. It used to be that we were ‘the event before the event,’” Hirschfeld said. “For 2011, you’re going to see a much more diverse NTL.”
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