During the past five years, ratings for the NFL playoffs have generally drifted downwards with some occasional spikes that reflected particularly close games. Ratings for this year's regular season are down slightly from those of last year, although some of the drop can be attributed to starting the season during Labour Day weekend and having to compete against NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympics. Two very low-rated Thanksgiving games haven't helped this season's audience.

But with News Corp.'s Fox, Walt Disney's ABC and ESPN and Viacom's CBS having shelled out more than $2 billion annually for the rights to carry football, it is crucial for both the league and the networks to improve, or at least stabilise, playoff ratings. Both sides have plenty of incentive: The NFL's current seven-year television deal, which is in its third year, has a window after the fifth year in which the league can try to jack up the prices. The networks fully expect to be asked to pay more. Now they want all the help they can get for stronger ratings before reaching for their checkbooks again.

"In this fragmented entertainment world in which we live, you can't take anything for granted," says Mr David Hill, president of Fox Sports. "You can't assume everyone will watch unless you tell them."

"To keep ratings up, you really have to make a lot of noise," adds Mr Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports.

The new spots will be hard to miss. Besides running during the games starting Sunday, December 17, the NFL also will have commercials in prime time, daytime and late night. Altogether, 252 spots will run on ABC, ESPN, Fox and CBS during a four-week period. Most of the inventory for the spots are already earmarked for the NFL by the networks as part of their TV contracts.

To generate the appropriate amount of noise, NFL went to Mr Lee, who has never had a problem being heard. Besides his movies, which always draw much attention and occasional controversy, his ad campaigns for Nike,which helped boost the National Basketball Association, and appearances in ads for the WNBA women's basketball league have been hugely popular.

Mr Lee is directing the commercials through Spike/DDB, his partnership with DDB Needham, which is a unit of Omnicom Group. The creative director for the spots was Mr Desmond Hall.

The campaign, called "Show Me Something," features top players from teams that are playoff bound. Unlike traditional NFL ads produced by NFL Films, which usually feature teams or action from games, these spots will focus on individuals having great seasons. The theme is that this is the time for these players to step up and show something for the post-season. Of course, the same can be said for the league and the networks as they try to woo viewers to the post-season. Actor Samuel L Jackson, who has appeared in many of Mr Lee's movies, has signed on to be the voice of the campaign.

"We're big sports enthusiasts," Mr Lee says. He notes he has been trying to get into business with the NFL for the past two years. "It's all about timing. The NFL is looking to brand the playoffs and we want to make this distinct. This is going to be more stylised in lighting, tone, look and feel," he says.

While the Super Bowl also has seen some fluctuation in its ratings during the past few years, it has been almost 10 years since the game failed to draw at least 80 million viewers. Remarkably, it has been the No. 1-rated programme of every TV season since 1983. Although good match-ups and popular teams play a part in determining the size of the audience, the Super Bowl's appeal extends far beyond just football fans. The halftime show also is a draw, as are the expensive new commercials that launch throughout the broadcast.

However, the playoffs are a different animal. With the NFL's post-season divided among ABC, CBS and Fox, there has been little uniform effort to promote the playoffs as a big event, even though the games are scheduled in such a way that it is very rare for two playoff games to be on at the same time.

"The National Football League's championship season needs to be pulled together and looked at in totality," says Mr John Collins, the NFL's senior vice-president of marketing and entertainment programming. The campaign promoting just the playoffs may be the first by a professional sports league.

The NFL would like to extend the "Show Me Something" campaign beyond TV commercials. It hopes to integrate the campaign with Viacom's MTV network, which is producing the halftime show for this year's Super Bowl. The league also is exploring the possibility of creating related merchandise. Mr Lee is hoping that if all goes well with this campaign, he will produce a spot for the Super Bowl as well.

The commercials are being done in a hurry, and Mr Lee and the NFL have gathered together as many big-name players together as possible for the shoots. Although NFL stars typically get paid for everything they do, this time they worked free of charge. The reason: Big ratings mean big TV contracts, which mean bigger salaries.

Of course, in a surprise-filled season, some of Mr Lee's commercials will likely never see the air. For example, players from the pre-season Super Bowl favorite Washington Redskins already have completed their spots. But now that the franchise has lost three straight games and fired its head coach, it is clear not every team is up for a campaign called "Show Me Something."

The Wall Street Journal