Emily Griffin, Senior VP, Marketing and Brand for the Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions are hosting the NFL’s first “Women in Football” game in Week 3. What are some of the highlights of the event?

The programming is centered around celebrating the countless ways women impact the game of football and are driving the game forward, and there will be programming during the pregame, at halftime and throughout the game that shows the team’s commitment to elevating women in football.

We are having a panel discussion before the game with Sam Rapoport, NFL Senior Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Odessa “OJ” Jenkins, founder and CEO of the Women’s National Football Conference; Elly Finch, Royal Oak High School (Mich.) offensive lineman; Taryn Hutt, NFL Vice President, Club Marketing; and moderator MJ Acosta-Ruiz, of NFL Network. I think I’m most looking forward to this, listening to the discussion amongst the panelists about why it’s important to get girls and women involved in football and how they can continue to trailblaze and feel supported by organizations like the Detroit Lions and National Football League. I think that will be an inspiring conversation.

We are also hosting countless special guests who have been trailblazers in the game. Detroit native Antoinette Harris, who is the first woman to receive a full football scholarship as a skill position player, is an honorary captain and will help co-host a pregame show because she has some serious broadcasting chops. We are excited to give her that opportunity. A number of the league representatives will be here giving their support.

We’re excited to be hosting 11 members of the Atlanta Falcons Flag Football program on the field during the national anthem, during which they will stand in front of the Falcons players on the sideline. We’ll also have about 100 participants from the Detroit Lions High School Flag Football pilot program who will stand in front of the Lions sideline. This is something I’m really excited about because it symbolically represents our passion for this cause, creating awareness for girls flag football. This celebration is bigger than competition, and we’re joining forces with our opponent to amplify that message.

Can you provide some background on how the “Women in Football” game came together?

At the Detroit Lions, 80 percent of our ownership is female, and we have a number of women in key roles within our organization who have really moved the needle. That’s something to celebrate. Our culture revolves around creating a workplace where everyone feels they can be their true, authentic self. We have an employee resource group for women, and there was some discussion about putting our flag in the ground that this organization supports women in football. That’s really what the genesis of it was.

Then it was about what we wanted to do, the message we wanted to send and how we wanted to celebrate this. We didn’t want to miss any component. Women are present across the board: girls are playing flag football, women are playing tackle football, women are in executive leadership roles, women are officiating and coaching, women own teams. We wanted to create awareness for and together strive for a future where women in all of those roles aren’t the exception but the norm.

Why do you think raising awareness through this type of event is important?

It’s important because we have a fan base that needs to know what we are and what we truly stand for. I think you’ve seen that in the last several years in the causes we support and our players support as we’ve rallied across a wide range of issues. Girls flag football has become a huge initiative for the Detroit Lions, and participation is the greatest driver of fandom. A big component of what we’ll talk about and drive Sunday is getting girls involved in the game as participants, whether that’s flag or tackle. Fandom is what drives the longevity of the sport and fosters a love of football forever. It’s important to us, because we love this sport.

To quantify the impact, the Lions will distribute over $50,000 in scholarships, grants and donations on Sunday. In addition to doing this for awareness, we are really putting our money where our mouth is. These donations will help these organizations continue down the paths they’re on, to get more girls participating in flag football, to grow women’s tackle and to grow women in officiating and other roles in football.