Guess who’s coming to the NFL league meetings?
Serena Williams and Caitlin Clark.
The two sports icons will be featured on a panel discussion hosted by Mellody Hobson on Sunday night, part of the kickoff for the league meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. The panel, which will also include Eli Manning, will focus on the growth of women’s sports.
The NFL has a vested interest as it promotes growth in women’s flag football, coinciding with an increasing number of women in key roles with the league and its teams.
“The NFL is certainly interested in learning from the experience of some of the greatest athletes who have ever lived,” Jeff Miller, an NFL executive vice president, said during a media Zoom call on Wednesday. “Certainly, Serena Williams fits that description, and Caitlin Clark’s engagement with college basketball and the WNBA, as well as Mellody Hobson, who is part-owner of the Broncos and invests in sports, including women’s sports.
“The owners, the clubs, are interested in learning more.”
Miller emphasized that flag football is a high priority for the NFL, stepping up efforts as the 2028 Summer Games loom with women’s and men’s flag football debuting as Olympic sports.
Flag football also represents another avenue for the NFL to strengthen its international footprint amid ambitions to boost football (i.e. American football) as a more prominent global sport.
“This is really about the momentum over the last few years,” said Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president, football operations.
Clark, who became college basketball’s all-time leading scorer at Iowa and was the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year last season with the Indiana Fever, has publicly stated a desire to become an NBA owner.
Hobson, president and co-CEO of Ariel Investments and former Starbucks chair, purchased a share of the Broncos in 2022.
Vincent knows the optics that the panel discussion will reiterate to owners and other key NFL figures, as more women gain prominent roles in the industry.
And there’s no denying the star power pegged to help hammer home the relevance of women’s sports to the NFL.
As Vincent put it, “We just want to continue that conversation amongst the membership.”