Kavanagh in her first year with the team has placed an emphasis on connecting with the fanbaseEAGLES
Fresh off their first Super Bowl title in franchise history, the Eagles this past summer went out and made several moves in free agency, including bringing on a new leader for their media operations. JEN KAVANAGH came on board in late June as a senior VP, and she’s hit the ground running in her first season. This weekend, the Eagles host the 3-2 Panthers at Lincoln Financial Field, and Kavanagh took THE DAILY through her weekly preparation for gameday, the intensity of NFL Sundays when working for the home team and what it’s like joining the reigning champs in pursuit of another title. “I got to experience that wave of excitement … and it was contagious to say the least.”
HOME GAME PREP: Friday I’ll meet with the department heads from each of my teams (marketing, content, production, social) and that’s where we review our run-of-show. Saturday is very much viewed as the day to get as much personal down time in as possible ahead of Sunday. I will typically spend it with my family, maybe go the farmers market, catch up on errands, empty a few non-football related shows from the DVR. I’m really into “OZARK” on Netflix right now -- I turned (Eagles radio announcer) MERRILL REESE onto it. We tend to exchange TV and movie recommendations to each other on the bus to away games. “Ozark” is just where it’s at right now.
PRESS COVERAGE: Sunday I’ll get up early, spend some time with the family and have breakfast. I’ll then try to be at the stadium around 10:30am for a 1:00pm kickoff. So many members of my team have very specific gameday-related responsibilities and places they need to be. What I try to do is take an approach that gives me a 360-degree view of the game experience before, during and after as a fan. Before the game starts I’m in the control room watching our kickoff show and getting a gauge of how excited people are on social. Once we transition into our in-stadium experience, I’ll watch alongside our team in the control room to see how our on-field entertainment looks. I try to identify areas where we can punch those experiences up if need be. Then I’ll go down to the stadium’s plaza and see how fans are engaging with our activations. This weekend we’ll have an AR experience through our new recycling partner Braskem that allows our fans to watch a video of the construction of a Lombardi Trophy replica that was built from recovered bottle caps at the stadium. From there I’ll typically walk down to the field and check on our sideline talent just to see how everyone’s feeling about the game. Then I’m back up in the press box area where I’ll check in with Merrill and our radio partners.
REST & RELAXATION: I’ll get home at a decent hour with the 1:00pm kickoff. My husband and I are big foodies, we like to go out when possible and Sunday we’ll probably hit up one of our favorite places and talk about how the day went. Hopefully we’re toasting a win. We are new to the Philadelphia area after relocating from Connecticut. I’d been working in Manhattan for the past 15 years so it’s been really fun to explore the city and culture. We’re having a blast.
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