Sandra Douglass Morgan, the president of the Las Vegas Raiders, never saw herself as the leader of a professi onal sports team. The city in which she was born, reared, and currently resides had no professional sports teams until the late 2010s.
After the Raiders relocated from Oakland to Los Angeles in 2020, Morgan made NFL history two years later when she was appointed as the first Black woman president (she was just the third woman or Black person to hold that post).
“Women make up half of NFL fans,” she claims. “We always talk about how important it is to make sure that the fan is at the centre of decision-making, and it is crucial to have a leader who can relate to and communicate with half of the fan base.
“Sandra Douglass Morgan, the president of the Las Vegas Raiders, never saw herself as the leader of a professional sports team. The city in which she was born, reared, and currently resides had no professional sports teams until the late 2010s.
With more than 20 years of legal experience and several noteworthy positions under her belt—such as chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board and city attorney for North Las Vegas—it’s hardly surprising that Raiders owner Mark Davis first approached Morgan about becoming the team president. “I wasn’t actively looking for it,” the woman claims.
She’s since started a number of community-driven initiatives, such as a programme that pairs the team with diverse and women-owned businesses. When I spoke with Morgan, she and the Raiders were getting ready to host thousands of guests—including Taylor Swift—at Super Bowl LVIII. Here’s how she pulls it off. “But it was an incredible opportunity, and with the preparation and the things that I dealt with in my career, it was something that I definitely wouldn’t turn down.”
