Philly Leader

Executives from the Philadelphia region's five major sports teams participated in a panel at the Business of Sports event held at Xfinity Live! on Thursday morning. The discussion covered topics such as stadium projects, the impact of gambling, innovations in sponsorship activations and fan engagement, and the evolution of social media marketing.

Jen Kavanagh, Senior Vice President of Media and Marketing for the Eagles, represented her organization. Other panelists included Dave Debusschere (Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Philadelphia Union), Todd Glickman (Chief Revenue Officer, Comcast Spectacor), Michael Harris (Vice President of Marketing and New Media, Philadelphia Phillies), and Lara Price (Chief Operating Officer, Philadelphia 76ers). The event was moderated by John George, Senior Reporter for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Kavanagh is responsible for leading the Eagles' global brand development and audience growth across all fan-facing platforms. She also oversees business and data analytics as well as community relations efforts. During the event, she discussed the team's upcoming trip to Brazil for their season opener against the Packers on September 6.

"It's exciting; São Paulo is very unique in that it has a large population of about 23 million people. The game sold out almost instantly," Kavanagh said.

The NFL will hold five international games this season across Brazil, England, and Germany. Kavanagh emphasized how these games are part of a broader strategy to grow fan engagement outside the United States.

"What's more interesting to us is this idea that both existing fans and our fans who travel will be kind of coping together," she said. "It'll be this multicultural experience unified by their love of the team."

Regarding maintaining fan enthusiasm each year with gameday experiences, Kavanagh stated: "Every year you're seeing new experiences that we're trying to introduce... Our objective every gameday is to create an experience that makes people feel like they're part of a really special community."

She highlighted efforts to balance various elements such as music preferences among different age groups during games: "For us, it's really trying to throw a great party and deliver on a great experience for our partners."

Kavanagh also addressed how evolving technology impacts marketing strategies: "One big thing we'll have to be mindful of is this rising generation – I'll use Gen Z as an example – and how much we understand about them... Otherwise, we're speaking a foreign language at some point."

On AI's role in content creation for engaging fans globally, she concluded: "Generative AI specifically is very interesting... We want to do more. I think things like Generative AI are going to give us the ability to scale premium content in a way that's going to be really powerful."