EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado — Denver had nice weather for the Jan. 8 game between the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers, but a national audience was still treated to plenty of shots of fresh snow in the high country. The result was at least something of a “Broncos bounce.”

The bounce often comes when the Broncos play during a snowstorm, preferably when the game is televised to a national audience. Since the first bounce game in 1984, state ski industry wisdom holds that reservations generally rise after the Broncos play in the snow.

That didn't happen Sunday, but CBS, which broadcast the game, showed plenty of video of happy skiers playing in snow when going into and out of commercial breaks. Vail Resorts provided similar footage to CBS affiliates in some of that company's top markets.

Sure enough, the phones and Internet reservation systems were more active Monday and Tuesday.

The Vail Valley Partnership's Vail on Sale website, which provides reservations for people traveling in the next three weeks, saw a 15 percent jump Sunday and Monday over the same Sunday/Monday in 2011.

But Partnership director Chris Romer wrote in an e-mail that the number of completed reservations were about equivalent for the same period.

Antlers Lodge General Manager Rob LeVine said that lodge saw a week to week revenue jump of more than $35,000 between the first two Sunday-through-Tuesday periods of this year. But, he added, there was a similar revenue jump between the first two weekends of 2011, too.

“In the last decade I've been amused by people who've said we need the Broncos to play in a blizzard,” LeVine said. “Consumers now are so informed, they're not going to think the mountains are getting snow just because Denver is. But maybe it does raise people's awareness.”

That was the intent of Vail Resorts' move, of course. And, while the company doesn't disclose much information about its day-to-day business, Vail Mountain marketing manager Adam Sutner e-mailed that the overall effect of video shown during the game was a boost in confidence among the resort's fans.

But at the Cascade Village Resort & Spa, public relations director Kirsten Texler was effusive about the game's effects on reservations at that property.

“We're getting bookings,” Texler said. “The calls started coming in Sunday night.”

The snow shots also prompted the Cascade to send out an email blast for a discount lodging promotion, and that brought even more reservations.

“People aren't going to trust their TVs,” Texler said. “But when they see those shots, they're going to go online to see for themselves.”

People contacting a resort directly have already made a decision to travel, Texler said. Those who made reservations early this week were just waiting for the right opportunity.

“Skiers want to ski,” she said. “When they see the time is right, they come.”