Good morning. Are you ready for Super Bowl Sunday’s face-off between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans? Christine Dorfler, EVP and CFO of the National Football League (NFL), has been preparing for the sports world's marquee event too—and for most of her life in some respects.
Dorfler joined the NFL as CFO in May 2023 following a 21-year career at NBCUniversal. She was most recently the CFO of NBC Sports. Before that, she was the CFO of the NBC and Telemundo-owned television stations. I asked Dorfler why she made the switch to the NFL.
“While I had a terrific career at NBCUniversal and it will always be a special place to me, I could not pass up an opportunity to be the CFO of the best sports league in the world,” she said. “I love the way that the game excites and unites people. This is a dream job for me, and I am thrilled, honored, and proud to be a part of the NFL.”
As finance chief of the NFL, leading the strategy for long-term growth, she reports to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Dorfler works with the senior leadership team along with its 32 clubs and business partners. Regarding Super Bowl LIX, her primary role is to ensure that her colleagues in the league office and at the two competing clubs have the support to successfully deliver the game on Sunday and all of the events leading up to it, she explained.
The event definitely draws an audience. An estimated 123.7 million viewers watched the Super Bowl last year, making it the largest audience for a single-network telecast, according to Nielsen. And this year, a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl costs about $7 million, with some brands paying closer to $8 million.
“There is a massive amount of financial planning and preparation that leads up to game day involving investment, forecasting, scenario modeling, reporting, analysis, and the ability to stay flexible as unexpected things come up,” Dorfler said. “I am proud of the NFL finance team that supports this effort.”
Sports and leadership
Dorfler is a CFO who knows a lot about leadership and teamwork both off and on the field. At Villanova University, she was a four-year starter on the Division I Women’s Lacrosse team. A 2023 Deloitte report found that 85% of women surveyed who played sports said the skills they developed were important to success in their professional careers. And the findings were even higher among women in leadership roles (91%) and women who make $100,000 or more (93%).
Dorfler shared three ways participating in sports prepared her for leadership roles:
—Developing grit and resilience. “Those characteristics have helped me tremendously in my career and are the first two things I look for when hiring someone,” she said.
—Learning how to lose without being defeated. “Over the course of a long career, you will inevitably have setbacks or won’t get the job or promotion that you want,” she explained. “I learned that you have to dig deep, let the loss fire you up, and work harder for the next opportunity.”
—Being teachable. “I am always listening, learning, and trying to get better,” she said.
Dorfler, a U.S. Army veteran who served as a military intelligence officer, also told me the best piece of career advice she’s received: “Do the things that scare you a little because that’s how you grow.”
Is she pulling for the Chiefs or the Eagles? She wouldn't say. All Dorfler would share is that she's rooting for an “exciting, competitive game that delivers a fantastic experience to our fans in the stadium and watching all over the world," she said.
Have a good weekend.
