As the Denver Broncos prepare to take on the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50, the NFL has been reflecting on its past and future. That future will require a stronger relationship with women, who are not only 45 percent of the NFL’s fan base, but also its fastest-growing demographic.
That’s why off the field, one of the NFL’s biggest wins this season was the Buffalo Bills’ hire of Kathryn Smith as the league’s first full-time female coach.
It’s a move that solidly contrasts the NFL’s ongoing troubles with domestic violence and an unresolved dispute over paying its highly trained cheerleaders a minimum wage (still less than a hot dog vendor earns).
As the Bills’ new quality control-special teams coach, Smith joins a handful of female coaches and officials who are breaking gender barriers in major professional sports. Last year, the Arizona Cardinals temporarily hired Jen Welter as their inside linebackers coach during training camp, and the NFL hired Sarah Thomas as its first female referee.
In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs also hired WNBA star Becky Hammon as the first full-time female coach in the NBA.
One of the greatest arguments for providing diverse role models in every field is that you can’t be what you can’t see, according to Children’s Defense Fund president Marian Wright Edelman.
“When we think about what it is to be ‘connected,’ we think about memory. We think about history. We think about storytelling,” she wrote in a recent blog. Inclusion and diversity create that sense of connection, she said, by not only allowing people to see themselves represented in the world around them, but also enabling others to see them in different ways.
That was certainly the case for Bills head coach Rex Ryan, who cited the NBA’s hiring of Hammon as inspiration for hiring Smith.
“You can see the success some of these young ladies are having in the coaching profession,” he said, “and realize how exciting this is for women like Kathryn Smith as well as the Bills organization.”
Smith served as an administrative assistant to Ryan since 2014, and a full-time player personnel assistant for seven years.
“She certainly deserves this promotion based on her knowledge and strong commitment, just to name a couple of her outstanding qualities,” said Ryan.
When women have the opportunity to earn well-deserved leadership positions that command the respect of players, it can help change male athletes’ perceptions of women — as well as inspire a new generation of female coaches.
“I may be the first, but I don’t think I’ll be the only one for very long.” Smith stated on the team website.
That would be good news for the NFL, which is slowly realizing that diversity and inclusion create two-way connections that also benefit businesses.
The league is hosting a Women’s Summit during Super Bowl week, on Feb. 4 and 5, that will highlight the role sports can play in developing the next generation of women leaders.
“It’s an opportunity for the league to listen to what their fans want, to focus more on women,” Jane Skinner Goodell, wife of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and a panel moderator at the event, told USA Today.
Hopefully the NFL’s homage to female athletes will include more hiring of female coaches, a consistently tough response to domestic violence, and fair pay for its hardworking cheerleaders.
As conference champions, the Denver Broncos should celebrate Super Bowl week by disclosing cheerleader pay and committing to a minimum wage to its own female athletes during the Women’s Summit.
During a historic Super Bowl, it would give Denver’s female sports fans another great reason to cheer.
Lisa Wirthman is a monthly columnist for The Denver Post. Follow her on Twitter: @LisaWirthman
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