• by Karl Greenberg , September 4, 2013

It might seem like an odd pairing, but Covergirl is partnering with the NFL to pitch a line of NFL-inspired nail glosses to female fans. But then, the NFL itself for the past three years has been looking to women as a major consumer demographic for merchandise, including team theme attire.

The P&G unit is doing a series of merchandise and grassroots programs at game venues, online and in the parking lot. The company on Thursday will selling a line of "Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss" at covergirl.com/NFL in collections whose colors represent all 32 of the NFL team hues. 

The company says it is also doing “fanicures” at "mobile manicure stations" at a series of games. Inside the stadiums, Covergirl will have "NFL Style Lounges" at 10 games, selling official NFL gear for women, offering sessions with a stylist, and letting women get their photos taken, among other things. The cosmetics maker is also using Pinterest to run tutorials about the line on a Covergirl NFL nail board, and crowdsourcing photos of football fingernails, with consumers building votes based on their friends' support.  

The NFL started to look to women as a legitimate fan base in 2010 with a pop-up store in New Orleans -- a boutique-style boutique where, according to the NFL, there were lines around the block. Last year the league opened a 10,000-square-foot pop-up store in near New York's Times Square, a big section of which was devoted to merchandise for women. 

Women are a silent not-quite-majority in NFL. Data from an ESPN poll and the U.S. Census last year found that the NFL trails only college sports in terms of popularity among women. The League said women are 44% of all football fans. The network cites Fanatics, an online retailer of NFL merchandise, which said merchandise sold to women was much higher in 2011 than it was the year before: an 85% sales increase in Dec. 2011 versus 2010 and a 125% increase in January, 2012 versus the month in 2011. Interestingly, Ipsos Public Affairs, per ESPN, said women participating in fantasy football doubled in 2011.