For the NFL’s Chief Spokesperson, football is much more than a game.
At the National Football League headquarters in Manhattan, Class of 1990 alum Brian McCarthy’s office is bright but unassuming, not on a corner or the highest floor, but embedded among members of his team. Shelves and cabinets are lined with framed Super Bowl tickets, a tiny Lombardi Trophy gleaming in each. Softspoken and surprisingly relaxed for a man in his position, he’s sincere when he apologizes for checking his phone. It’s part of the job.
There’s a hand-written to-do list on his desk, but he’ll be lucky if he gets through much of it. News could break at any moment, and as vice president of communications and chief spokesperson for the NFL, he’s always on call—the first line of defense for media outreach.
“The NFL’s much more than just a series of games on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays. On a daily basis, I’m either pitching or protecting. I always have a phone in my hands,” says McCarthy, adding with a chuckle, “to the detriment of my life.”
Public relations is a demanding field in general, but at McCarthy’s level, its demands are near-constant, which you’ll know if you’re a football fan or even just someone who follows national headlines closely. In an organization as sprawling as the NFL, it’s not a matter of if news will break, but when.
In early 2023, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and was revived on the field by medical staff during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals. In January 2015, the New England Patriots were accused of (and later penalized for) deliberately deflating footballs in their 2014 AFC Championship victory against the Indianapolis Colts, a scandal immortalized as “Deflategate.” During the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show in February of 2004, Janet Jackson sustained a “wardrobe malfunction” at the hands of Justin Timberlake. And then there are the ongoing conversations that draw near-constant attention to the league—concerns about the impact of concussions on athletes’ long-term physical and mental health, reports of racial discrimination amid attempts by the NFL to combat racism and inequality.
In every instance, McCarthy has been behind the scenes, working with local and national media and liaising with teams across the league to gather and disseminate information in a clear and efficient manner. Despite, or maybe even because of, the demands, McCarthy loves his job.
He’s worked every Super Bowl since 1994—a dream for a kid who grew up playing football, as far as he’s concerned. Still, McCarthy stays grounded, even when surrounded by so many star athletes (and their celebrity friends). When asked about the heavyweight couple that’s captured headlines and introduced the NFL to a new demographic of fans, he has nothing but good things to say about the Kelce family. He recalls meeting Taylor Swift for the first time in 2010, before she rose to global superstardom and took Kelce with her, while in New Orleans for back-to-back pre-season events, one featuring the pop star and the other Michelle Obama (somewhere, he says, there’s a photo of him politely escorting Swift out of a press conference to make room for Obama’s security team). He travels around the country and, as the NFL works to expand its international presence, the world. Even after 30 years, he can’t see it getting old.
“Each year presents its own challenges or as we say, opportunities to get better. Over the years, as the media has evolved and the nature of this job has changed, I’ve seen what football means to people, and that’s something that I never take for granted.”
McCarthy was a three-sport athlete in high school and a triple major at St. Lawrence, not to mention a two-year member of the junior varsity men’s hockey team and a four-year member of the baseball team. He was always working hard—as a groundskeeper in a local cemetery, a waiter in Lake George, and a sports reporter for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, where he learned that small details make a difference.
“If you knew how to spell Gouverneur, you were golden,” says McCarthy. “And when I was covering the beer softball leagues, gosh, I had better get all the names right.”
As a kid, McCarthy dreamed of one day working for Sports Illustrated. Though his relationship with sports media has changed, his love for it hasn’t. He might have imagined one day covering the NFL, but today he’s proud to champion the mission of the league from inside the organization.
McCarthy joined the NFL just four years after graduating from St. Lawrence. In between, he was a reporter for the Malone Telegram and then moved downstate to work for a paper in Newburgh before responding to a classified ad for a job at a sports business magazine in NYC. He leaned into his background in journalism to secure his first communications role at the NFL.
Today, he’s one of the longest-tenured employees at the organization and has a wealth of institutional knowledge to show for it. From the pre-internet days of fax machines and snail mail to today’s instantaneous media landscape, his attention to detail, drive, aptitude for camaraderie, and humility have served him well over his 30-year career. It is, as he says, “not too bad for a kid from Saranac Lake.”
Game Plan for the Unexpected
McCarthy still remembers one of the first classes he took at St. Lawrence—the fundamentals of “argumentation,” or the process of forming reasons, drawing conclusions, and applying them to a discussion. It’s come in handy throughout his career, and often when he’s going into a meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“He won’t give his opinion first. He wants to hear everyone. Going into a meeting, you should know you’re going to be challenged,” says McCarthy. “It’s not that he’s trying to prove you wrong, it’s to proof-test your thought process. That’s something I learned very early on at St. Lawrence. Listen to others, gather as much information as you can, and then once you decide you’re going to do something, have the conviction to do it.”
That’s something I learned very early on at St. Lawrence. Listen to others, gather as much information as you can, and then once you decide you’re going to do something, have the conviction to do it.”–Brian McCarthy '90
McCarthy trades in the commerce of sports culture, where being clear and concise is critical, especially as the nature of the fan/brand relationship has changed over his 30-year tenure.
“We hold a lot of responsibility in America and, increasingly, around the world. People look to the NFL for entertainment, but also to communicate the values that are important to them."
Fans don’t just want to watch football for entertainment, they want to direct their time, attention, and money to an organization that models the things they value. This has led corporations like the NFL to invest more of their resources in social responsibility efforts. The league’s “Inspire Change” initiative, for example, engages in social justice work that reduces barriers to opportunity in communities of color through education, economic advancement, and criminal justice reform.
Over the last several decades, both the influence and the size of the NFL has grown significantly, due in no small part to changes in technology. Fans now have more access than ever to their favorite teams and players, thanks to advances in social media and the expansion of NFL-owned channels and platforms. As demands and expectations have evolved, there’s a lesson that McCarthy always turns to.
“Stick to our key principles—integrity, resiliency, respect, responsibility to the team. You’ll see that posted all around the building. At our core we know what’s important to us, and that helps shape our messaging.”
It’s not just about getting it right for players and stakeholders outside of the NFL. Employees and members of leadership are personally invested in the direction of the institution. At the NFL headquarters in New York City, the shelves and walls in every office or cubicle are lined with framed ticket stubs, signed game balls, posters, helmets, and vibrant memorabilia from every team in the league.
“We’re fans of the game, that’s why we want to work here,” says McCarthy. “We know what the league means to people, and that’s the guiding light. We feel the responsibility to do the right thing, not just for today, but for the long term.”
That’s not to say that there aren’t tough days and equally difficult decisions to make. Sometimes, tragedy strikes close to a team’s community, players are hurt on the field, or the league must engage in challenging conversations about the issues that matter to their fans—issues like player health and safety, race and racism, or gender equality. Sometimes, McCarthy says, they let fans down. It’s become a sort of cliché in the NFL to say that hope is not a strategy, but meticulous preparation is.
“We have a responsibility to our fans, our clubs, and the media to get it right, to go in with a plan, and be prepared.” says McCarthy, “Don’t fight the scenario, work with the scenario. Look at what might happen, plan for what you can, knowing that you’re not going to be able to predict everything.”
Damar Hamlin’s near-death on the field in Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium was not something McCarthy would have predicted. It’s common for players to suffer strains, sprains, or fractures during gameplay, but the last time and only time an athlete died on the field was in 1971. Hamlin’s situation demanded immediate action. After 20 minutes of medical attention, he was revived and immediately brought to a nearby hospital. League administrators had to decide what to do next—resume the game or cancel it? From his home in New Jersey, McCarthy patched into a conference call with colleagues on the ground in Cincinnati.
“We were able to listen to the medical staff and listen to the players. We knew we had to postpone the game,” he says.
It was a smart and humane thing to do for everyone at the game. Both teams were rattled, distraught with worry and concern for Hamlin’s health. At midnight, McCarthy convened a virtual meeting with members of the media, took a quick nap, and then drove to Manhattan to be in the office at 6:30. The story led the news cycle that day, with coverage on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and more.
“We knew from the volume of coverage that this wasn’t just going to be a sports story, but a story that would eventually bring the country together,” he says.
He was right. Hamlin began a miraculous recovery over the next several days, and fans eagerly awaited news of his improvement from the NFL. The league’s messaging praised Hamlin’s heroic healthcare team; it highlighted the millions in donations that poured into Hamlin’s charity, Chasing M’s Foundation, after his injury. It emphasized player safety and the importance of widespread CPR training. Hamlin embarked on a multi-city tour that included free training to community organizations. What could have been a PR crisis for the NFL became a story of resilience, responsiveness, and compassion.
When it comes to making tough decisions during critical, often unpredictable moments, McCarthy’s thought process is deceptively simple.
“If it’s good for the fans and good for the players, then it’s the right thing to do.”
“Daily Acts of Kindness”
Several years ago, McCarthy returned to his hometown to deliver the commencement address to the Saranac Lake High School class of 2018. The ceremony took place in the hockey rink where he once played as a kid.
“It was an opportunity to do something my father had done,” explains McCarthy, whose father served 38 years as a history teacher. In his speech, he referenced the “leave no trace” policy that will be familiar to anyone who has spent time in the Adirondack Park. “When you go on a hike, you see signs that ask you to leave the area better than you found it. That was my message to the students,” he says. “You have the opportunity to do something for others, commit daily acts of kindness.”
McCarthy makes a habit of putting his advice into practice. The chance to make someone’s day is one of his favorite parts of working for the NFL. It’s this mentality that helps him see his job not as something he has to do, but something he gets to do, invoking wisdom from his father.
“When I was growing up, my father used to ask, ‘Are you bragging or are you complaining?’ Talking about my job and the work that I get to do, it feels like a humble brag,” he says.
With the demands of his job come perks that he’s been able to share with his family. His son Brandon, daughter Emily, and wife and fellow St. Lawrence alum Tammy McCarthy ’90 have been able to attend multiple Pro Bowls and Super Bowls with him. And even though he has a rule about not abusing his role, McCarthy made an exception once to get his dad in the room with one of his all-time favorite players.
“I snuck my parents into a press gathering with members of the Miami Dolphins ‘perfect season’ team,” he recalls. His father was growing up in the Syracuse area when star Dolphins fullback Larry Csonka played for the university nearby before heading south for warmer climes. In 1972, he was a key part of the team that went 17-0 before clinching a win at Super Bowl VII and punctuating their perfect season.
“My father became a lifelong Dolphins fan because of Larry and that team,” says McCarthy, and he passed his allegiance down to his son, who’s been a fan for as long as he can remember.
One of McCarthy’s all-time favorite memories from the past three decades was helping to bring football back to the Superdome in New Orleans, the same place where residents sought shelter after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
“A year after Katrina, fans weren’t sure they’d see football again. The first game back, people were coming up to us, thanking us, giving us hugs. That’s when you know what you mean to a community,” he says. Every year, McCarthy and his team give away 600 tickets to the Super Bowl—the “biggest sporting event in the U.S.” and arguably the largest single day event in the world. Their guests are people working on the ground to make a difference in their communities—usually youth football coaches or parents but also teachers or first responders. “To be able to invite someone, and it’s usually someone who really deserves it, to have them join us is always one of the most rewarding parts of the job. And it’s their best day ever, too.”
