Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??? Great idea for the kickoff, but the purpose of ANY event is to build camaraderie and value among the residents. Just throwing a party will feel good, but results are what we need to strive for.

Along the same lines, if your community has a budget for it, how about doing a weekly NFL Football Pool online and give weekly prizes. That way, if someone misses a week or two they will still be interested! There are 17 weeks of the regular season so you can see how much you want to budget. Give away something that only costs you labor like a free accent wall or something similar. You can find some great deals online at LivingSocial.com and Groupon.com where you can get half-priced gift certificates.

Also, if you are going to show the first weeks' game in your community room, host it with munchies, sodas, punch, water and such. After that, list this weeks' games that will be shown and have the community room for NFL games for the first two games on Sundays (1PM and 4:15PM Eastern time) and Monday night games. Have them be a BYO or a potluck event. Your residents will meet others with similar interests and it will be fun for them.

One note, please know what your residents are like. If you live near Oakland, this might not be a great idea as some Raider's fans can get a little rowdy. If the first hosted event goes well, then maybe try the others.