The Women’s World Football Games have helped women break down barriers to participating in football on the field.

This year, they’re also helping women break into the sport in off-the-field roles, like coaching and scouting.

The players participating in the 2017 Women’s World Football Games at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla. are also taking part in the Women’s Careers in Football Forum, aimed at helping prepare women for roles in football operations.

The two-day program is the brainchild of Samantha Rapoport, director of football development at the NFL. Rapoport assembled a panel that included Bills owner Kim Pegula, former Dolphins executive Dawn Aponte, Falcons assistant GM Scott Pioli and NFL executive Kimberly Fields.

The discussion amongst panelists touched on various reasons why women’s inclusion in football—in all capacities—is a critical aspect of the sport’s future.

Pegula said that involving women in professional football roles was a natural step to be in sync with football’s diverse pool of fans and players.

“To meet the needs of our fans that are so diverse, we as an organization need to start reflecting that,” Pegula said. “So how can we reach them, if we ourselves as an organization don’t embody what our fans are?”

For Pioli, it’s a matter of creating opportunities for people that are qualified and deserving, an outlook that’s been shaped by his personal experience.

“It’s always troubled me that I had two older sisters who were better athletes than me, better students than me, more talented than me in every way, but they never got the opportunity to get out of our little hometown,” he said. “And their lives were so different because of the opportunities they didn’t have.”

With so many important voices driving the discussion—and serving as agents of tangible change—the future of women in football, both on and off the field, seems brighter than ever.