INDIANAPOLIS — The NFL Combine is underway in Indianapolis and women are among the coaches and league officials who are in town evaluating draft prospects.
WRTV stopped by the J.W. Marriott on Tuesday for a glimpse at the continued push to add women to this male-dominated sport and why NFL leaders say this effort is essential.
This season, the NFL has 12 full time women coaches. It's a league record and the most for any male professional sports league in the world.
While the NFL said that's great, it's hoping to add to that number.
"7% of the fan base are women right, so why is that not reflected in our workforce," said Sam Rapoport.
Football is a sport that brings everyone together whether that's in the stands or in front of a TV but when it comes to the sidelines, NFL Senior Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Sam Rapoport, said women need a stronger presence.
"That's something commissioner has emphasized to us, that it's really necessary in order for us to continue to be successful, so we created this program to solve for women vastly being underrepresented in these roles," she said.
To help fill the void, the NFL hosted its 8th annual NFL Women's Forum.
The room was full of women with entry-level college sports roles, looking for a job at the national level.
"We are trying to demonstrate to young girls and women that they can take this path if they want to. 12 is a great number because when we started this, we were at 0 but we are not satisfied with 12 right. We want women on the sidelines of every team coaching, scouting and football operations," said Rapoport.
The forum is where two of the 12 full time coaches once started.
Isabel Diaz is in her first year fellow as a special teams coach with the Indianapolis Colts.
"I took special teams on and I embraced it and I love it," said Diaz.
Lori Locust has been coaching in the league for six years. She's now with the Tennessee Titans.
"Looking back years from now it'll be probably be something that'll blow me away because this is not a large number and there are not a lot of positions available in the NFL and to have 12 of those fully taken over by women, its a pretty big deal," said Locust.
The NFL said the representation is not only bringing more fans to the league, but also encouraging women who never thought coaching, scouting, or training at this level was possible.
"In the past four years we've seen 141% increase of women in football roles, so we are no longer the future of football, we are now the right now of football," said Rapoport.
