For dedicated football fans, it’s the day they’ve been waiting for since the Super Bowl in February. It’s a scorching Sunday in August at SoFi Stadium, and it’s the preseason opener between the Los Angeles Rams and the Dallas Cowboys. As usual, Jennifer Prince is walking the stadium hours before kickoff. Jennifer is the chief commercial officer of the Rams, which means for her and her team of 40, it’s a different kind of game day.
“Happy game day!” she says with a big smile as she greets her squad. Dressed in their own version of corporate casual (the favored color is Rams royal blue), the sales and marketing team is getting down to business.
While they have their game faces on, Jennifer cuts through with a big hug for a member of her team, James Daniel, and a warm welcome for the newest member, Jessica Weinstein. “This is your first game, right?” Jennifer says. Like a coach, she is getting her players ready to do what they do best.
Jennifer cuts a petite frame in a world full of large humans. She is, however, comfortable with colleagues and clients—so much so that she casts a long shadow. Before and during the game, she spends hours luxury box-hopping and connecting with the Rams’ most valuable partners.
“I consider myself an extrovert,” she says. “I’m social and outgoing and can be put in any social situation with ease and comfort.”
As one of the NFL’s premier franchises, the Los Angeles Rams are a big business. While NFL teams generate most of their revenue from the league’s TV contracts, each franchise is able to market their team locally through sponsorships with brands and partnerships with media outlets like KABC-7 and Good Karma Brands/ESPN Radio.
According to GlobalData, a data and analytics company, the Rams are estimated to have received nearly $150 million from partners for the 2023–2024 season. (A Rams spokesperson would not confirm the amount.) This is the vast enterprise that Jennifer oversees.
A quick trip around the futuristic SoFi shows the fruits of her sales team’s labor. The logos of Rams sponsors fill every high-impact spot: American Airlines, Verizon, Google, Pepsi, Corona, YouTube and more.
Playing in the big-ticket sponsorship world for the Rams is a logical progression for an executive whose résumé is filled with major players in the world of digital media. Jennifer played an important role in the commercialization of behemoths like Google and Twitter.
“Sometimes I feel like I’ve done it all,” she says. “I’ve worked the buying and selling sides of media. I’ve worked for start-ups, private and public companies. I’ve been through two IPOs. What I’ve learned is that there is no script to succeed professionally and that the one constant is embracing change.”
In August 2013, Jennifer signed on as senior director of media and entertainment at Twitter. Just a few months later, the social media platform went public—an experience that she describes as challenging and rewarding. She stayed at Twitter for more than eight years, eventually working as a VP running all global content, helping sports leagues, media companies and creators distribute content on the platform worldwide.
“There are a ton of females interested in sports and working within sports. I recommend this industry for any females looking to shine in a traditionally male-dominated industry with massive opportunity ahead.”
It’s no surprise that she got on the radar of the Rams. At one point she had an email business exchange with Rams president Kevin Demoff, who later reached out to her about coming on board to work for the franchise. At the time she passed on the opportunity but eventually became intrigued and was hired as chief commercial officer.
Once again she stepped into a new job in a tumultuous arena. She started with the Rams on December 1, 2021, toward the end of what turned out to be a “pretty wild” season. After losing all their games in November, the Rams started winning again in December. They capped the season by winning Super Bowl LVI on their home turf at SoFi Stadium. It was their second Super Bowl championship; the last time the Rams won was in 2000.
“Imagine writing a script for the first season—fans in a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium, where the team that plays in that stadium wins the Super Bowl on their own turf. It was sensational. After we won the Super Bowl, a former Twitter executive said, ‘You already peaked three months into your new sports job. It’s all going downhill from here!’” she recalls, laughing.
But in fact the exact opposite has happened. When Jennifer started the job, 20 people reported to her; today that number has doubled. And her role has expanded beyond the NFL team. She has her hands in numerous other ventures owned by Stan Kroenke.
In addition to the Rams and SoFi Stadium, the Kroenke sports empire includes the NBA Denver Nuggets, NHL Colorado Avalanche, MLS Colorado Rapids and Arsenal FC of England’s Premier League. While she has no official responsibilities with those organizations, it’s not unusual for Jennifer to get involved in those businesses—as she describes it, “collaborating with my peers.”
In particular, she gets excited about the work she and her team have done tapping into the technology at SoFi Stadium. “With our focus on media and entertainment partnerships (like with video game publisher Activision) and being in the heart of Los Angeles, we bring next-level entertainment, culture, innovation and experience to our fans on game days with our extraordinary infinity screen and stadium.”
Jennifer realizes that as a woman working in the NFL, particularly one at a high level, she stands out. But she is seeing a shift.
“There are a ton of females interested in sports and working within sports. I recommend this industry for any females looking to shine in a traditionally male-dominated industry with massive opportunity ahead.”
She shares that the NFL’s longtime chief revenue officer is a woman and two NFL teams now have women as presidents. She notes that more than 50% of the Rams’ front-office employees—essentially customer-facing staff—are female.
“I get asked to speak on a ton of panels and at conferences about the power of being a female in sports. And really, if you think of tech and sports and my career journey, I’ve always been in male-dominated industries. I’ve spent a lot of time working with employee resource communities and women’s groups telling my story and having an impact on females early in their careers. I want to help catapult our position and our voice in any way I can.”
While Jennifer’s extroverted nature, work ethic and smart job choices all have led her to where she is today, she credits her success to a humanistic approach. “I lead with the personal—by being human first. I focus on the power of human connection.”
She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in communications in 1994 and immediately joined the work force. “I grew up with a mom and dad who both worked. My mom wanted and needed to contribute to our family’s lifestyle, and I watched her do it all. We weren’t well-to-do, but we always had what we needed.”
Sixteen years ago Jennifer married Chris Prince, and the couple has three daughters, now teenagers. Chris works in education technology—a job that has allowed him to work virtually from their home. “So he’s been very present,” she says.” I couldn’t do it without having a partner who is a lot of the time a better parent than me in terms of teaching and making sure the girls understand values. He’s my better half for sure.”
At the Rams’ training camp this past summer, the buzz was around wide receiver Puka Nacua, the fifth-round Rams draft pick who had a record-setting season as a rookie last year. “Who knew—such a star!” says Jennifer—never one to forgo a personal touch. “Puka has done numerous brand deals and is sought-after. He’s doing a lot of great custom-branded content and community work. By the way, he is also a very sweet guy.”
