Updated at 7:50 p.m.
A Jewish football executive has hit the field in the Bay Area — an indoor field, to be exact.
Meet David Eisenberg, team president of the Bay Area Panthers, an Indoor Football League franchise established six years ago that competes in San Jose.
The Indoor Football League, which played its first season in 2009, is similar to the ubiquitous NFL in a basic sense. There are still tackles, touchdowns and field goals, but some rules, the style and the venue size are much different.
The playing field is half the length of the NFL’s (50 yards instead of 100). Fewer players from each team are allowed on the field during a play (eight instead of 11). And, of course, the games take place indoors. The Panthers play at the SAP Center, home to the San Jose Sharks hockey team.
The smaller playing field and a rule that allows wide receivers to get a running start before the snap make games more exciting, Eisenberg said, especially for younger fans.
“I have an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old, and they’ve attended games with me and absolutely adore it,” he said. “There’s constant action in front of them.”
Eisenberg is from the East Coast and attended high school in Washington, D.C., where he became a bar mitzvah. He moved to the Bay Area in 2014 and today lives in Oakland, where his older son attends Hebrew school at Temple Sinai. Judaism continues to play an important role in his life, Eisenberg said.
“I remember very vividly attending Hebrew school on Wednesday afternoons and on Sunday mornings,” he said. “It has instilled in me a life value of how important it is to build strong communities.”
Eisenberg joined the Panthers last fall after serving as a marketing vice president for the San Francisco 49ers.
He had his sights set on a sports career since he was young. Inspired by the sports comedy-drama film “Jerry Maguire,” Eisenberg had ambitions to become a sports agent. But many who pursue that position attend law school, and Eisenberg was ready to be done with higher education after earning a bachelor’s degree in sports management from the University of Delaware.
Eisenberg’s role with the Panthers is to ensure the successful operation of the team’s business side. Think marketing, communications, sales and operations.
Early in his career, Eisenberg bought into a key piece of advice that helped him reach his current position: “build your network of advocates.” A connection suggested him to Roy Choi, the Panthers co-owner.
“Roy and I started chatting about where he hoped the team would go and how my skillset might lend itself well to the role,” Eisenberg said. “We kept talking and talking and eventually he offered me the position.” (Choi co-owns the team with NFL legend Marshawn Lynch.)
Eisenberg is no stranger to this line of work. For nearly two decades, he has been tasked with reeling in customers for various mega companies. He has already leveraged his skills to help the Panthers reach a broader audience on the airwaves. During the offseason, he established a partnership with NBC Sports Bay Area to televise home games and with KNBR to radio broadcast all games.
“Those two partnerships are a really important piece to us building awareness,” he said.
As team president, Eisenberg sees the development of a Panthers fan base as the key to success and one of his greatest challenges. The Bay Area sports market is saturated with thriving teams like the Giants, Warriors and 49ers that have formed deeply loyal allegiances with generations of fans.
Because the Panthers aren’t an established franchise by comparison, they seek to attract fans in other ways, such as offering a less-expensive live experience than the big-name Bay Area teams.
“Four tickets, four drinks and four hot dogs for 100 bucks,” Eisenberg said, referring to the “Panther family 4 pack” promotion.
The events are more accessible in other ways too. After each game, fans are welcomed onto the field to meet players for photos and autographs.
Coming from a historic organization like the 49ers, Eisenberg said that it’s exciting to be a part of a burgeoning new franchise.
“Whereas the 49ers are incredible at the business that they are running, the Panthers are at a place where a lot of that work is being formed and developed,” Eisenberg said. “That struck me as a fantastic opportunity to bring the skills I learned throughout my career to this developing and emerging sports team.”
Eisenberg sees an expanding future of the sport.
“We’ll be in existence and thriving,” he said. “I think indoor football fills an important space. It brings together football, one of the most loved sports, and couples it with accessibility.”