Advice on mixing business with sports: how to throw a game; You're out to impress a could-be client, but you want more face time than you'll get merely by picking up the bill at Morton's. What to do?

• Author: Schley, Stewart
• Position: Sports Entertainment

For a growing number of businesses, the answer is to head over to the ballpark or the arena, where comfortable luxury suites and three-hour games provide a recipe for client schmoozing that's hard to beat.

The friendly merger of sports events and business entertainment is a big economic driver of the modern sports industry, responsible for an explosion in luxury and premium seating that produces more than $3 billion in annual revenue among the four major U.S. professional sports leagues.

With average suite rentals ranging from roughly $70,000 (NFL) to $125,000 (NBA), luxury suites are targeted mainly at medium- to large-sized businesses that are angling for a memorable way to impress clients, reward employees or seal deals.

Denver's Invesco Field at Mile High, for instance, features 124 glass-enclosed luxury boxes rented out at $60,000 and higher annually over five-year leases. No self-respecting sports facility breaks ground today without a plan for profitable luxury and club-seating options, and even some of the nation's most venerable college stadiums, like the University of Oklahoma's Memorial Stadium and Colorado's Folsom Field, have undergone facelifts that have added revenue-producing suites.

Many suites are reserved in advance for the entire season. But local teams generally have additional inventory available for game-day rentals that appeal to companies looking for a way to stand out in a noisy business marketplace. "Corporate suites provide a unique environment for entertainment," says Jill Roberts, senior director of advertising and publicity for the Colorado Rockies.

That's the theory, at least.

But veterans of the sports industry say there's more to a successful client entertainment event than plunking down thousands of dollars to reserve an air-conditioned luxury box. They say advance planning, careful orchestration and attention to detail spell the difference between producing a memorable event and just another day at the ballpark.

Here are some of the key tips shared by team marketing representatives and local businesspeople experienced in planning client entertainment gatherings involving sports events.

1 Plan ahead. If you're angling to impress your client by inviting the senior management team to the Broncos' Sept. 12 home opener against the Chiefs, we've got news for you: It's too late. Local sports-team representatives advise making invitations at least a month in advance of the game date so busy executives can arrange...