“Foodball” (food + football) refers to the food served at a tailgate party or at a Super Bowl party—any combination of food and football. “Super Bowl Means One Thing: It’s Time for TV and ‘Food Ball’: was a newspaper headline in January 1990.
 
 
Google News Archive
24 January 1990, The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY), pg. D1, col. 1:
Super Bowl Means One Thing:
It’s Time for TV and ‘Food Ball’
By Charlyne Varkonyi
Baltimore Sun
 
27 September 2006, Buffalo (NY) News, “Are you ready for some foodball?” by Janice Okun:
Gridiron Gourmets can turn up in two settings.
 
One is in a stadium parking lot around a tailgate. Or, sitting at home in comfort in front of the TV set, mostly revving up during halftime.
 
Twitter
Signe Rousseau
‏@Dr_Rousseau
Food and football (foodball?), beloved armchair sports: http://is.gd/cLaPr
1:17 AM - 11 Jun 10
 
Food Republic
Jan 22, 2012 1:30 pm
TAILGATE!
Football Food For Your Sunday
Don’t watch the playoffs on an empty stomach.
BY FOOD REPUBLIC
There are many kinds of football watchers: cooks, cooks who watch football, football watchers who are willing to cook as long as it’s not too distracting, and the rare and delightful people who love cooking football food for people who love watching football and not cooking.
(...)
You’re not actually interested in watching foodball…uh, football — you just want to hang out (and are about to be awarded MVP): ...
     
Food Republic
Jan 12, 2013 9:10 am
THE WEEK IN RECIPES
New Recipes This Week: Sausage & Kale Pasta, Pork Belly Onigiri, Deep-Fried Coke
Cook your way through our newest recipe additions
BY JESS KAPADIA
Foodball! I mean, football food! Massive cheesy pasta casserole, fried things on sticks, fried things wrapped in sage, fried things in ball form, and a fried ball with a sweet pork belly surprise in the middle. Oh, and fried balls of Coke
         
Food Republic
Oct 3, 2013 9:00 am
FOOTBALL AND FOOD
Proud Alum: Lauren Hirschberg On Foodball Saturdays And Gold Medal Wings
A certified football freak, with the wings to match
BY MATT RODBARD
Over the course of a decade, Lauren Hirschberg has worked his way through the ranks at New York City’s Craft and Craftbar under the guidance of Tom Colicchio and Damon Wise. Some quality bosses like whoa. In 2012, he was named Executive Chef at Craftbar, where he remains today. It’s a big-time gig, no doubt, but it just might not compare to the chef’s second career on the competition barbecue circuit, where he serves as one of the key members of the Ribdiculous Bar-B-Krewe, a team that took home first place in the Hot Wings category at the Super Bowl of meat cookery, Memphis In May. A natural-born competitor and admitted sports freak, the chef parlayed his time at Syracuse University into a career in food.