McDonald?s, MasterCard and Whataburger are the initial sponsors of the just-launched mobile marketing program of the National Football League?s Houston Texans.

The Houston Texans and Txtstation Mobile Marketing have announced a two-year partnership to bring real-time interactivity to fans while at Reliant Stadium. The promotions range from real-time SMS voting and text alerts to in-stadium video board games and contests.

?The Houston Texans were looking at several companies to help them use mobile for in-game entertainment, to activate some of their sponsorship deals and to build up an SMS database,? said Michael Falato, vice president of sales and business development at Txtstation, Austin, TX.

?The team chose us for in-stadium SMS poll, sending out score alerts and keeping peopled up to date with what?s going on with the Texans,? he said.

"The team is very much up to date with the social media and texting with their fans, with in-stadium calls-to-action and a Web site entry form to sign up for text alerts.?

The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The team is a member of the Southern Division of the NFL's American Football Conference (AFC).

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

Are you ready for SMS?
The Houston Texans will begin running mobile promotions during the preseason and will continue while fans are at the games.

The latest team news from the Texans include real-time in-game scoring updates, team transaction notices, injury notifications, player appearances and special offers on merchandise and tickets, delivered straight to fans' mobile phones.

The Texans are currently offering three separate text clubs for game-day score updates, team news and alerts, and special ticket and merchandise offers, respectively.

Fans can join by texting the keyword SCORES to the short code 88222, NEWS to 88222 or OFFERS to 88222.

The Texans are broadcasting graphics inside the stadium featuring branding from McDonald?s, MasterCard and Whataburger.

McDonald?s is sponsoring SMS voting for play of the game and third down stop of the game.

Here is a screen grab of the results of one in-stadium SMS poll:

MasterCard is sponsoring a trivia question, while Whataburger is sponsoring the player of the month vote.

Mr. Falato said that the Houston Texans are a smart and creative organization, and that his company is looking forward to pushing the envelope with its texting tactics.

?The Texans asked ?How do we figure out who is watching our games, listening to our games and at our games, and engage with them?? Mr. Falato said.

?Text messaging is a great way, and they can also have people text in to collect their phone numbers, email address, physical addresses and get them to Like the Texans? Facebook page,? he said.

Final Take
Dan Butcher, associate editor, Mobile Marketer