peyton manning pep talks

NEW YORK ― Some are dubbing it the "mini Super Bowl."
Even at as much as $500,000 per 30-second commercial, Sunday's showdown on CBS between two undefeated National Football League teams ― the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts ― may be a steal for advertisers.

And a coup for CBS and the NFL.

Consider: Super Bowl spots on Fox are fetching $2.7 million. That's about five times Sunday's price.

Sunday's game is expected to attract an average of more than 30 million viewers, 50% more than games typically draw in the regular season.

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It will be the first time the two teams face each other since the American Football Conference title matchup in January, which the Colts won before going on to capture the Super Bowl.

"To say this is a regular Week 9 game would be an understatement," says Brian McCarthy, NFL spokesman. "It's the perfect storm of the ultimate reality show."

Sunday's game pits quarterback Tom Brady for the Patriots against Peyton Manning for the Colts. The players are superstars on and off the field. Brady this week announced an endorsement deal with Coca-Cola's (KO) Glacéau unit and has endorsement deals with Nike (NKE), Sirius (SIRI) and Stetson cologne. Manning has deals with DirecTV (DTV), Gatorade, Reebok, Sprint (S), MasterCard (MA) and Sony (SNE).

Many of those brands, including MasterCard, will be in the game. Manning, who has been a MasterCard spokesman since 2004, will appear in ads as part of the brand's Priceless Pep Talks campaign.

In the ads, Manning appears on the practice field with advice on everything from dealing with spousal arguments to getting a social life and driving a minivan. Sunday, he'll offer advice on dealing with not having rock-hard abs.

"We always look for opportunities across all the networks where we think there is going to be consumer interest," says Chris Jogis, vice president of U.S. brand marketing. "When you've got a matchup of rivals like this, it fits perfectly."

Big winners for game day:

?Advertisers. Among advertisers for the big game: Citi (C), Nike and Sprint.

Snickers also has a big NFL buy for the season and will be in pre- and post-game ads. Marketers decided this week to have a big presence at the game itself. Ad characters from its Feast campaign will be at the stadium for a tailgating party.

A king, Viking, pilgrim, Polynesian islander and toga-clad Roman will be at RCA Dome with giveaways. "The characters are historically known for being in big battles," says Snickers spokesman Ryan Bowling. "We wanted to bring the characters to life, and what better venue to do that?"

?NFL Network. Through Sunday morning, the subscription service of NFL-produced programming will have aired nearly 40 hours' worth of shows on the two teams and their quarterbacks. The coverage wraps up Sunday at 5 a.m. with a rebroadcast of the AFC matchup.

?CBS. The network sold out of inventory this week and has lined up movie studios, fast-food companies and video game makers to be in the game.

"We knew at the beginning of the season this would be a big weekend," says John Bogusz, executive vice president of sports sales for CBS. "It just so happens that the planets have aligned, and they've both gone undefeated."

Until Sunday.