Brief:

• The Denver Broncos professional football team added a bingo game to its mobile app for the 2017 season. Broncos Bingo, created by game developer Sideline Sports, is integrated with the Denver Broncos 365 app sponsored by Verizon Communications, a statement said.

• Coca-Cola Zero Sugar sponsors the digital bingo game, which gives fans a chance to win prizes during home and road games.

• The prizes include $500 cash, an autographed Broncos item and Coca-Cola merchandise each game.

Insight:

The Denver Broncos have boasted some of the strongest home-game attendance among National Football League teams throughout the history of the franchise. Gaming apps give the team another way to engage with fans who attend games while using their smartphones to monitor scores, download statistics and share pictures on social media.

Professional sports organizations also need to appeal to millennials and Gen Zers who have many other entertainment options. The median age of an NFL TV viewer rose to 50 last year from 44 in 2000 as younger generations have shifted to digital platforms, according to Nielsen data cited by Sports Business Daily. 

Given the graying of the audience and the declines in viewership, it could signal that sports leagues need to embrace mobile media to stay relevant with younger groups that are more likely to be looking at a cell phone than watching live sports on TV. In some cases, millennial sports fans are tuning into video game tournaments and other eSports activities, according to a study this year from L.E.K. Consulting. 

The Denver Broncos are among the teams that are finding new ways to integrate mobile media with their live events. Earlier this year, the New York Jets rolled out the NFL's first season-long mobile ticketing subscription service. The Jets Boarding Pass is a $725 package in the team's app that lets fans sit in a different seat each time they attend a home game, according to a statement made available to Mobile Marketer.