How Flyers Executive Blair Listino is using hockey to build community in Philadelphia

For Blair Listino, growing up in Colorado with a father who worked in finance for the Denver Broncos, watching sports was serious business. “We had one TV, and sports were on all the time. If you wanted to spend time with Dad, that meant watching DU [University of Denver] hockey,” Listino said. Now, the chief financial and administrative officer of Comcast Spectacor, Listino, 43, is also the board chair of Flyers Charities, the charitable arm of the Philadelphia Flyers, and serves as an alternate governor to the National Hockey League’s Board of Governors. She is one of the few female executives to have served as CFO for an NHL team.

Listino is on a mission to grow and diversify the sport of hockey. Now in her 12th season with the Flyers, her role extends well beyond the traditional CFO responsibilities. As board chair of Flyers Charities, Listino is focused on making hockey more accessible to kids of all ages and backgrounds. Below, she discusses generational influences of being a sports fan, hockey’s unique culture of teamwork and collaboration, and how her insatiable curiosity impacts her work.

What do you love about the Flyers fans?

One of the things I love most about Flyers fans is that they’re extremely loyal. They’ve been loyal through our ups and downs over the past 10 years. And they get loud! This is true of all Philly fans. They don’t mind booing their team if they’re not playing well. But there’s generational loyalty; many came with their parents and have been fans for decades.

Women and girls now make up 37% of hockey fans, an increase of 26% since 2016. What is the organization doing to grow women’s and girls’ participation in hockey?

Girls are playing hockey and impacting the game more than ever. When my father went to games with his father, the girls were left out. Then my dad took me and my sister to every sport imaginable. Now I see entire families all going to games together. Girls are now growing up watching women professional athletes in the WNBA, pro soccer, and the PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League), which is expanding from six teams to eight. My daughters watch their sports icons who are women. Being able to look up to your heroes, who look like you, is a game changer.

White players comprise approximately 90% of the NHL. How are you working to diversify the sport?

We’re continuing to work on making hockey more available in our community and more accessible. We’ve initiated several programs to bring young athletes of all backgrounds into the sport. One is Rink Revive, where we upgrade local rinks. We’ve done everything from refurbishing rinks to building totally new rinks.

We refurbished the Scanlon Recreation Center in Kensington, home to Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education, which creates hockey and educational opportunities for underserved youth. We also built a brand-new outdoor ball hockey rink where one never existed! In New Hanover, we revitalized a ball hockey rink that two impressive 11-year-old girls advocated for improving. We’re doing Gibbstown and Torresdale this year, so we’ve added two rinks, which will offer new opportunities for players in the community to learn hockey.

These rinks are the center of youth sports programs, women’s ball hockey, and learn-to-play programs. We initiated a “Girls Try Hockey Free” program this year, to try to eliminate that financial barrier. When kids start to play, it gets the word out, and it brings more people to hockey.

What do you wish people understood about hockey that they may not know?

People don’t realize how hard skating for an hour is. The athleticism is intense. But I also think one of the unique things about hockey is teamwork. The sport has remained uniquely team-oriented, as opposed to other sports where there’s usually one or two household names per team. For young athletes learning hockey, it’s collaborative. To get that ingrained into your head and influence your outlook from a young age teaches you that collaboration is the way to be successful. It is a really unique sport.

What do you hope to accomplish as board chair of Flyers Charities?

I would love for every kid in Philadelphia to know about the Philadelphia Flyers and what we are doing in the community. For instance, our community relations team launched a special recess event where we go into a school with Gritty and a few alumni players to talk about hockey and health. The kids hear about how important exercise is. We relate it to hockey, but the bigger message is that exercise is important for your health, as is stress relief.

“When I think about the Flyers and the impact that the Flyers have on the sport of hockey, whether it’s in the community or in the arena, I want to focus on how to be a force for good.”

You are one of a few women to have served as a CFO and as an alternate governor in the NHL. Do you hope to see more women choose a career in pro sports?

Yes. As a mentor, I try to help other young women find their path in this industry, both through a program at my college and in the Flyers organization. And on a personal note, I try to bring my daughters to everything I can. They come to games, and they’re at Carnival and Gritty 5K. Just seeing me at work has a lasting impact. They come with me to charity events and the Rink Revive programs. I want them to see it all and know they have choices.

How is your work with the Flyers and its charities broadening the popularity of hockey?

When I think about the Flyers and the impact that the Flyers have on the sport of hockey, whether it’s in the community or in the arena, I want to focus on how to be a force for good. Our charity work is a big part of our identity, and it’s a generational thing. Everyone remembers going to the annual Carnival event at the arena when they were kids, and it’s still bringing new parents and their kids.

All our players show up, including the coach, the GM, and everyone in the organization. When you’re a fan and you get access to your favorite player, or you get to meet every single player on the team, that’s unusual. The players’ wives work the raffle and games, so the entire Flyers family participates. That’s something our fans appreciate. We are a big family and we show up for each other.

What’s your approach to getting players involved in community outreach?

At the beginning of the year, I sit down with the players and ask them what they are passionate about. If they’re going to volunteer, it helps if it’s something they have a passion for.

Many of these hockey players are very young, so the first year we did this, some of them hadn’t thought about what they wanted to get involved in yet. They’ve spent their entire lives playing hockey, so we introduce them to organizations that are impactful in the community, like youth programs. They love to give back to kids, which makes sense, because someone gave them a shot and they want to pass that opportunity on.

How is AI or technology changing the sport?

As we approach our strategy, technology is at the front of it. I imagine over the next 10 years, there’s going to be a lot of innovation in the sports world and in the fan experience. But there’s nothing like being in the arena. The electricity of it! We are working on making it even more entertaining, like allowing you to hear the announcer’s play-by-play in your seat. There are a lot of fans who want play-by-play and statistics, which is something we can do.

How has the experience in the arena changed as sports and entertainment are converging?

We created the “Gritty Chaos Corner,” a special section where fans can experience the energy and antics of the team’s mascot, Gritty, in a high-energy, interactive zone. It’s helped in two ways. The first is there are many fans who ask, “How do I find Gritty?” or “My kids want to see Gritty!” So, if you come to see Gritty, you should buy a ticket in the Chaos Corner. He’s going to be throwing popcorn on you, or you might be dancing, singing, or banging drums with him. You get the full experience, if that’s what you want. If you came to focus on the game, you don’t sit there!

Your title of chief financial and administrative officer does not describe all that you do.

When you’re a chief financial officer, people think you’re running a spreadsheet. But one of the things I encourage everyone in my organizational structure to do is to stay curious. Ever since I started my career, I have had professional curiosity. While the lane I started in was finance, it touches a lot of other pieces of the business.

I ask questions, because I need to know how every piece of the business works. That curiosity and learning about all aspects of the business has helped my career tremendously. Importantly, having that holistic view of the company allows me to make decisions that are thoughtful. If our executive team is making a decision, we need to understand how a few departments may see positive benefits while other departments may have to adjust. Understanding the big picture and this push and pull is extremely important.

Who or what inspired you?

My dad was my biggest inspiration. He was also in the sports business. He worked in finance for the Denver Broncos. He was an incredibly smart man, but he was also very humble. We would walk through the stadium, and every single employee knew him, from the janitor to the owner.

We grew up with one TV in our house and sports were on 100% of the time. I didn’t really have an option of watching anything else. And if I wanted to hang out with my dad, it meant watching baseball, football, or hockey. My dad was and always will be a DU fan. He fell in love with hockey, because that’s what they were known for. We grew up going to hockey games and watching DU before the Avalanche came to Colorado in 1995.

That was my introduction to hockey. It was me and my sister watching DU. Little did my dad know that when he was getting his girls into hockey, I would just keep on loving it.

What makes you feel most like a Philadelphian? That I never want to leave.

You don’t know Philly, until you... know how to spell “Schuylkill.”

Favorite Philly food spot? Osteria. I love Italian food.

Favorite neighborhood to explore? I love Old City. The old history of the city is incredibly special to me.

Favorite performing artist? Jill Scott.

Favorite Philadelphian from history? Benjamin Franklin, because he’s everywhere you go, including in our arena! On our balcony level, an artist did a painting of what Benjamin Franklin would look like today, with a tattoo of Gritty.

Lucy Danziger is a journalist, an author, and the former editor-in-chief of Self Magazine, Women’s Sports & Fitness, and The Beet.