Purpose, Platform, and Impact with American Cancer Society, NFL, and Miami Dolphins

Moderated by Worth Media's Josh Kampel, this Beyond the Game session brought together three leaders working at the intersection of sports and cancer awareness: Jeri Ramos, Strategic Director of Corporate and Sports Partnerships at the American Cancer Society; Christina Hovestadt, Senior Manager of Community Relations at the NFL; and Javier Sanchez, Executive Director of the Dolphins Cancer Challenge. The conversation centered on Crucial Catch, the NFL's 17-year partnership with ACS focused on cancer prevention and early detection. "We have this really unique opportunity to do a lot of work in the prevention and screening area," Ramos said. "That is what Crucial Catch is all about. It is intercepting cancer." Beyond national tentpoles like the Super Bowl and the Draft, Ramos noted, the partnership reaches deep into local communities, including South Florida, where ACS and the Dolphins are investing in research on cancer risk among diverse populations.

Asked how the NFL evaluates partnership opportunities given its outsized platform, Hovestadt was candid about the volume of inbound interest and the discipline required to say no. "I literally get 50 messages a day from nonprofits and for-profits alike, asking to partner with the NFL," she said. The deciding factor is expertise and track record. "We look at who has that credibility, who has the numbers of the screenings that we're trying to reach." She also pointed to a near-universal connection in every room and every stadium the league enters: almost every fan, she said, has been touched by cancer. That ubiquity is part of what makes the ACS partnership resonate, and it's why the NFL leans on long-tenured partners who, in her words, bring ideas the league can amplify rather than build from scratch.

Sanchez traced the origins of the Dolphins Cancer Challenge to 2010 and the late Jim "Mad Dog" Mandich, the former Dolphins player and broadcaster whose bile duct cancer diagnosis galvanized the organization. Sixteen years later, the DCC has raised more than $100 million for Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, where Mandich was treated, and 100% of every dollar raised still goes directly to research. Sanchez spoke about the particular power athletes have to shift the conversation, recounting a Dolphins wide receiver who joined the DCC's 100-mile ride. "The second I started talking football on my platform, it's one tone, it's one narrative, it's one form of comment," the player told him. "I expressed something that I was riding 100 miles for cancer research, and everything changed." Hovestadt added a parallel example: Dak Prescott became a Crucial Catch ambassador and funded screenings for Dallas Cowboys employees, one of which led to a colleague's cancer diagnosis at a treatable stage.

Hovestadt described how the league helps players find causes that fit them, with rookie programming, player tours through every NFL department, and coaching to plug into team community relations before launching independent foundations. "A lot of athletes want to give back," she said. "They just genuinely don't know where to start." On the question of measurement, Ramos closed with hard numbers: together, ACS and the NFL have facilitated 840,000 screenings and raised more than $35 million, with funds reinvested as change grants across all 32 NFL markets to provide free or low-cost screenings. She pointed to a recent activation at the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh with shared partner Novartis and NFL legend Lynn Swann, where a push notification on the NFL app filled all 50 prostate cancer screening slots overnight. "To screen 50 men in less than three hours for prostate cancer, that's life-changing for the men who came," Ramos said. "Whether you've learned that you had cancer or learned that you didn't, that makes a difference. You're on your way to a life saving change."

Learn more about Beyond the Game Summit 2026.