Las Vegas Raiders President Sandra Douglass Morgan and Carolina Panthers President Kristi Coleman.
Getty Images (left) | AP (right)
When the Carolina Panthers take on the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, it will mark a historic milestone for the National Football League.
The game is the first time two female presidents will face off in professional football. The two executives represent a small but growing class of women in NFL front office, and are the only two female presidents of the league's 32 teams.
“I'm very proud of this moment,” Carolina Panthers president Kristi Coleman told CNBC before the game. “It shows you can accomplish anything as long as you do a good job.”
Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper (C) and president Kristi Coleman listen to Dave Canales speak to the media during the Carolina Panthers head coach introduction at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, on February 1, 2024.
David Jensen | Getty Images
Coleman, who has a background in finance, was named team president of the Panthers in February 2022 after previously serving as vice president and chief financial officer of Tepper Sports & Entertainment. Hedge fund founder David Tepper owns the Panthers.
Sandra Douglass Morgan was named president of the Raiders by owner Mark Davis in July 2022 after more than two decades in the gaming, legal and corporate sectors.
Douglass Morgan said he never lost sight of the moment.
“We want to celebrate the fact that these are innovative new times, but at the same time, we're doing our job, like every other league president, and making sure we're handling the day-to-day business operations,” Douglass Morgan said.
The NFL has made a major push in recent years to increase gender diversity within its ranks.
Last year, women made up 42.5 percent of NFL League Office employees, an all-time high and “a significant improvement from a decade ago, when just 29.3 percent of women held these positions,” according to the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.
The league says it has 243 women in management positions.
On the pitch, the numbers are also growing.
The NFL says there are now 22 women in full-time coaching positions in the NFL. The league says this is a record for any men's professional sports league and a 187% increase over the past five years.
As part of the growth and development of that pool of women, the NFL hosts an annual Women's Forum. Since its inception in 2017, more than 400 women have gone through the program and more than 250 opportunities have emerged for women at all levels of football, according to the league.
Douglass Morgan said women's interest in the NFL has been growing for years and hiring a more diverse employee base is key to connecting with those new fans.
“As our fans become more diverse, I believe our employee base should become more diverse as well,” he said.
As the league looks to turn soccer into another avenue for growth for the sport, Coleman and Douglass Morgan say it's another avenue for women to get involved in the game.
Today, the NFL's flag football program has more than 700,000 participants and provides a pathway for women to play in college.
Sandra Douglass Morgan (left) and Las Vegas Raiders owner and managing general partner Mark Davis pose with a jersey after a press conference introducing Douglass Morgan as the new Raiders president, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on July 7, 2022.
Ethan Miller | Getty Images
Both Douglass Morgan and Coleman say their team owners have done everything they can to make them feel welcome in the league.
“Mark Davis has always said, 'Sandra, I don't care if you're white, black, whatever, I hired you because you're the best person for this job. You're the best person to lead the Raiders,'” Douglass Morgan told CNBC.
For women looking to enter male-dominated sports leagues, both executives tell them to be confident in their ability to learn new things and not to be afraid to bet on themselves.
“You have to do your job, the job that you have, and you have to do it well so that people can imagine you in the next job. And then I would say you have to be kind and also believe in yourself,” Coleman said.
“Don't let them see you sweat,” Douglass Morgan said. “When you're just two of 32, you know we may be under more scrutiny because we're a minority here. Make sure you have a good group of people around you who will support you through any of the guaranteed challenges that will come your way.”
