The Miami Dolphins are running an interactive text-messaging feature for all home games of the current NFL season.

The team selected Txtstation as the vendor of choice to power in-stadium SMS quizzes and polling. To participate, fans at Land Shark Stadium will use their mobile phones and send a text message to a mobile short code, and the incoming results will display on the video screen in real time, creating an interactive forum for all to see. 

?The Dolphins have partners that want interactive features and the team wants to build databases and engage fans,? said Michael Falato, vice president of sales and business development at Txtstation, Austin, TX. ?They?re opting-in fans to a text club once they text-in initially.

?They want to build a one-on-one dialog with their fan base once they become part of the text club,? he said. ?This also gives fans the opportunity to voice their opinions live at the Dolphins home games.

?All polls and quizzes are shown in real-time, and we take a real-time data feed and have it light up the selection they choose via SMS in real time.?

The Miami Dolphins are currently in third place in the NFL?s AFC East division with a 2-3 record. The team's next game is Oct. 25 at home against the New Orleans Saints.

Txtstation is a mobile marketing company specializing in sports and entertainment. It helps broadcasters, event owners, sponsors and general media to communicate with viewers or fans directly through mobile phones, the Internet and landlines.

Txtstation creates one-to-one real-time dialog with consumers at specific times and places such as events, concerts and live or pre-recorded broadcasts.

The goals of the Dolphins? mobile initiatives are to generate high consumer response, encourage brand loyalty, build email and mobile phone databases and increase ticket sales.

Interactivity is paramount for the Miami Dolphins? game-day entertainment. It is also a way for the team to build a database and activate its sponsors.

The SMS initiatives are currently being sponsored by a tier-one U.S. carrier.

The SMS polls and trivia quizzes are projected on the in-stadium Jumbotron, asking fans questions such as ?What was your favorite Monday Night Football moment?? and ?What year did Dan Marino go into the Hall of Fame??

There is also a recurring segment where fans are asked to text in to guess ?Whose baby picture is this?? They are given several Dolphins players as options.

These types of SMS initiatives are becoming a growing trend among sports teams.

?The teams I?ve talked to, they want to have interactive features, interact with fans, let fans give their opinion, drive them to go buy something at the team store, drive ticket sales, build a database to learn about who?s at their games and give special offers based on consumer profiles,?  Mr. Falato said.