PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia Flyers want to see more young women score big in sports careers.
Through a new program, Next Shift: Mentoring the Next Generation of Female Leaders, up to 20 young women will be paired with female Flyers executives at an upcoming game so they can witness how a game is run and managed in real time — from ticketing to game presentation.
The goal is to inspire and mentor the “next shift” of female leaders in the sports industry.
“We'll match young women with each of those women executives, so they can get, really, a close up look at what goes on behind putting a game on and what working in sports really looks like,” said Cindy Stutman, senior vice president of community relations and executive director of Flyers Charities.
“On any given game night, there's over 60 women in leadership positions in different areas, and they're just running the game. So I think it's going to be great for these young women to see that.”
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Stutman calls the program the crown jewel of their Women's History Month initiatives.
“Young women will be able to see what women in sports are doing right now today and some of the opportunities that exist, and it gives them a chance to try some things out, to … look at different areas they think they're interested in and see what it really looks like when it's an action,” she said.
Valerie Camillo, president and CEO of Comcast Spectacor Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Flyers, was the first woman to be hired as president of an NHL team and has made it a priority to foster female talent. Women make up over half of the Flyers organization’s senior executive team.
“Representation is important,” Stutman said. “And I think that people will be surprised to see a lot of the really important roles within the flyers organizations that women not only serve, but lead.”
Next Shift is accepting applications through March 13 for consideration for the Flyers’ March 21 home game against the Florida Panthers.