Enable High Contrast Mode
Disable High Contrast Mode
Kate Taylor
November 11, 2026
The Big Game is on the horizon and the competition is fierce – not just for football fans but for experiential marketers as well.
Each year, brands compete for prime activation space in The Big Game host city. With an already competitive market, “Clean Zone” restrictions narrow down the available options even further making early planning essential.
This year, The Big Game will take place on February 14th, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. While the game may be happening in Inglewood, all the activation activity will be heavily concentrated around the LA area.
For a standard LA activation, the permit lead-time is 45 days. This changes drastically during major cultural or sporting events such as The Big Game – and not for the reasons you may think.
While the 45-day deadline *technically* remains unchanged, submitting a permit application only 45 days in advance puts you at a major disadvantage. For starters, 45 days before February 14th is December 31st, which happens to fall on a holiday. Even if you can still secure a location that late in the game, your application will be at the bottom of the pile.
To further that note – the holiday season adds an additional hurdle to receiving timely answers and approvals. In addition to a heavy volume of applications and limited available activation spaces, you also need to account for holiday city office closures, which will heavily impact response and approval times. It’s important to keep in mind that even our team can’t work around these closures to speed up the process.
So how much lead time do we recommend for The Big Game 2027? Conversations need to start now, if they have not already. And that typical 45-day permit deadline becomes more like 60-days, putting us at December 16th to have your concept, location and application finalized.
The Big Game is a major moment for brands across all industries and as you can see, there is very little room for error when planning. If you have a project on the horizon that you are ready to discuss, or are not sure where to start, our experienced team can guide you through every step, from concept to event day. Contact us today to get started.