Lisa Kerney: FanDuel

Being an NFL reporter is one area of the NFL that is sometimes overlooked. When you think of the NFL you think of a specific team, the quarterback, and coaches. But beyond that is the media behind it all, how the news gets to you, how interviews come to life, and how the league interacts with fans. During the NFL season, reporters attend games, conduct post-game interviews, and write analysis pieces. Covering a game involves live-tweeting key plays, filing reports under tight deadlines, and engaging with fans through social media. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Lisa Kerney, a former CBS, MLB, and ESPN reporter who is now a Host and Senior Communications Advisor and Expert at FanDuel in New York City. 

Lisa’s Story:

A little bit about Lisa…

“My number one job is a mom of the four most amazing children in the world and wife to Patrick Kearney, who played 11 seasons in the NFL and he's an all-pro and pro-bowler, and a total badass. And I'm very lucky to be supported by my starting five.” Lisa’s biggest part of her life stems from her family, but beyond that, she has been working in the sports industry for the past twenty-two years. She has had an impressive and diverse career that has taken her to many different high level positions at large and reputable companies. 

What initially drew you to sports broadcasting?

Lisa’s initial interest in sports came from her family. She grew up in a massive sports family, her mom being a swimmer and her dad being a collegiate basketball player, so she has always been around the sports world and in a very competitive sports environment. She remembers back to being a young child and playing reporter, “I remember, I was like six or seven years old and I was going around with like a hairbrush or a popsicle and I would be like interviewing my siblings about sports and like competitions that we would put together, like, in our own house and I would like, make my sister, like, record me on, like, a huge VHS camera, and I would be like talking to the you know, like doing a whole broadcast as like a tiny kid. So for me, looking back, I'm like, it's unbelievable to me that it was like literally baked into my blood that this was what I was meant to do, and I'm very lucky that I pursued one goal and one dream and just kept chasing it.” From a young age, she knew it was exactly what she wanted to do, and she was able to make a reality and a very successful career out of it.

What led you to transition from ESPN to FanDuel?

Working at ESPN, Lisa worked for Sports Center, NFL Live, NFL Insiders, and Fantasy Football on Sunday mornings. Talking about her time there, she gushes about how much she loved it, and everyone who worked there. “It's literally just like a sorority or fraternity of sports people that love sports and just kind of get it. You know, you just are all kind of, you know, in the locker room together, it's just kind of like that kind of scene. And it's always action, it's live, it's every, you know, big games and all that.” But she mentions that the better you do and the bigger you get, the more you work. After having four kids, she realized that the time commitment was a lot and felt she wasn’t seeing her kids or her husband enough, and decided to take a chance on herself elsewhere. She had to pick her family. A few weeks after leaving ESPN, her agent let her know that a new company, in Los Angeles, was interested in her starting with them. While she knew she wasn’t going to take a job in LA, she flew out to FanDuel and met with everyone there. “I did my screen test and I met with all of their executives and it felt like home. Right away, I was like, ‘This is where I'm supposed to be, this is crazy.’ So I was flying home and texting Patrick and I was like, ‘I don't know, but like, I really want this job.’ It's so crazy. And he's probably like, ‘Oh, no, she might go.’ And truly it's been the most rewarding experience of my life, to be able to come in to start a TV network, to start a brand new show, to take on a challenge of sports betting that I didn't know a whole lot about. And to be to work with these incredible energetic people with the innovative mindset that are like, okay, come in and help us build this thing and take on this great challenge and, you know, FanDuel really takes care of their people in a way that I that I've never experienced in my career.” 

You’ve covered so many major sporting events—do you have a favorite?

From a fan standpoint, Lisa deems Super Bowl XLVIII as one of her favorite moments. She remembers her and her husband, who played for the Seahawks for three seasons, attending the game and says the game was euphoric and unbelievable, and they were able to watch the Seahawks defeat the Broncos at MetLife Stadium. From more of a work perspective, she says watching the Chiefs run these past few years has been one of her favorite things to cover. She grew up a Kansas City fan so it still is a “fan moment” for her, but beyond that she thinks the Chiefs have a lot more success coming for them, even with the recent Super Bowl loss this past year. “I think of this dynasty and that the players are also young. Patrick Mahomes is so young, like, what he has left to do in this league is gonna continue, I think, to blow our minds and the pieces around him. We have a front office in Kansas City that I think is really smart, has great command of the cap, and a lot of different pieces that are gonna, I think, continue to fall into place for Kansas City. So I think bigger picture is like just this recent history for Kansas City has been really thrilling for me being in Kansas City native and fan, and to go, you know, to four of the last five Super Bowls and winning, you know, it's hard to say that right now because they just came off with such a horrible Super Bowl but this most recent stretch of Super Bowls and seasons has been the most thrilling for me as a fan and to be able to cover it too and not be shy about my fandom has been really fun.”

Who is your favorite player that you have covered?

Over her years in sports broadcasting, Lisa has covered so many notable different names in the sports world. But in particular, she has a favorite memory from her time in Seattle with the SuperSonics for NBC News. Back in this time, they used to do pregame interviews in the locker room, and she remembers a time talking to LeBron James while he ate a plate of chicken tenders and french fries. “So I was sitting there like talking to LeBron and then he's like, ‘Okay, cool, like let's do this.’ And like behind him he had chicken fingers and french fries, and he was like having a pregame snack of like kid food. I've seen and talked to a number of athletes right before games about pregame, and I've never seen any player sit there and like to crush french fries and chicken tenders right before the game. And then he went out and like scored like 30 points.” She also remembers a time while covering the SuperSonics where she was watching them shoot after practice one day while the Lakers were in town, and felt like someone was watching her from behind. “I turn around and Kobe Bryant was there. And Kobe was like, ‘Hey, what are you watching?’ And like I don't know him. I'm like, ‘I cover the SuperSonics’ and he was like, ‘You don't look like you're from here.’” While she has so many different stories she could think of, she deems this as a memorable moment and something from her career that has always stuck with her. 

Football is such a male-dominated space—how have you navigated that as a woman in sports media?

Coming from her sports background, Lisa was always fascinated by statistics and numbers. She loves to dig into the pieces behind the numbers and understand them to the best of her ability, so when she began her career in sports, she knew this was something that would be able to help her tell stories. “I really became competitive with it early on because I knew from the very beginning that as a female in sports, as a blonde female in sports, as a young person in sports, I had to know more in every conversation that I was in, whether it was with a producer, or whether it was a with a fan, or my parents' friends, I knew I always had to know more. So I would read and read and read and sometimes not just articles or, you know, what's big in the moment, but I would go back and I would read historical information about different teams or different moments in sports or different highlights that continue to resonate as we move on throughout the years in sports, just so that I had a great background and a great baseline for important sports moments and important sports figures. And then I would build on that. I listen to sports radio. I'd make sure every morning I had on Sports Center or NFL Network, I'd be listening to a podcast and also reading the morning sports, whatever article I was reading for that day. I'd make sure I would scroll Twitter and just make sure that I was completely updated on everything. Just every day it's a competition to make sure that you are at the top of your game because when you walk into any room or any conversation, you're always having to prove yourself and instead of saying, ‘oh, that sucks for me' or like, 'whoa is me’ like, ‘why do we have to do this?’ I always took it as a compliment and as a great challenge to improve myself and also continue to prove to others that I very much didn't just belong in this space, but was able to get in there and become a relevant voice in the sports landscape.” She deems that being able to have these pieces of information in the back of your pocket and staying informed is particularly impressive to people, and makes them look at you and recognize that you do actually know what you are talking about.

What changes have you seen regarding women in sports media over the years?

Early in her career, Lisa looked up to notable women in the industry such as Robin Roberts, Linda Cohn, and Hannah Storm, who have now become her very close friends. She deems them as pioneers within the industry. Over the years, these women have been able to bring sports into households nationwide, and Lisa calls it a privilege to be able to watch them and do the same. “I always watched them and I always watched how they did it and I read stories about them. What you hear is just that they outworked everyone. And so they pioneered the landscape for women, other women have come on since then. The door just got kicked open. You know, 15 years ago, the door got kicked open where many women then were coming in and giving them an opportunity, not just at the desk, but on the sidelines. Now we have play by play announcers and they do an incredible job. And so I have seen that not only have women stepped up in the space that they've been given, but are then able to really expand themselves and paint an even bigger, more colorful picture for the women that are coming behind us, who are gonna do this job even better.”

How do you balance your professional and personal life in such a demanding career?

Always thinking about her family first, Lisa says that something that has taken her almost her entire career to learn is to say “no.” She said finding the power in that helps her not work on empty fumes and being able to give everything she has to her family as well as giving everything she has to work. She credits a lot of it to scheduling and planning, knowing that if the kids will be home at 4:15, all of her work is front loaded and done by then to give all of her attention to them. She wants her kids to know that “moms work too.” She remembers a time when she worked at ESPN, leaving the kids home with a babysitter and them crying for her not to leave. “I'm like one day they are gonna get it. Like one day they'll understand the sacrifice and that mommy's work too, and mommy's, you know, pay bills, mom's take on the responsibility of providing for our family too. And I think that's really important to show the kids that moms work too, and moms have an opportunity to pursue their goals and their dreams, and it's not just daddies. So that was one of those moments in my life that I was just like, 'I have to go to work but this is the hardest thing I've ever done' and knowing and that having faith that the kids later will understand, like, this is what mommy does for work and it's come around where the kids are like, ‘What does daddy even do? Mommy's on TV and she's the coolest’ and it took a long time for them to understand the differences of like, there's moms that stay home and work incredibly hard at home and then there's moms that leave and go to work and work really hard when they're away. And I'm glad to have kind of like come around now where the kids, like, understand what mommy does to work and can appreciate it, which fills my cup and makes my heart full.” 

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“Be yourself. It's so hard to show up and be something you're not every single day consistently, and you'll never be the best version of anything if you're trying to be something that you're not. And so just go up there and be yourself and you'll rise higher than you ever will if you're trying to be something you're not.” Lisa says that not being authentic to yourself will just make everything harder for you. That authenticity is a more solid foundation for you to stand on than false grounds. Beyond being yourself, she goes back to being prepared. “Prepare, prepare, prepare for like circumstances that you couldn't even imagine. Conversations that you might have. Like, I'm reading about the Minnesota Vikings, like, I don't know any Vikings fans. I don't really care about the Vikings personally, but I like to know historical data about their team and it's just an interest being in sports and covering the NFL and being in this landscape. But there's going to be a show where a conversation on the air comes up where I think of a statistic, where I'm like, 'Oh, did you know two seasons ago?'” She notes that being on top of your game and being prepared for anything, will launch you higher than you would have imagined.