True Hockey Talk: Blair Listino With W. Graeme Roustan

The Hockey News' Money & Power 2026 hockey business annual is available at THN.com/free, featuring the annual 100 people of power and influence list.

W. Graeme Roustan, owner and publisher of The Hockey News, sat down with special guests for peer-to-peer conversations also featured in the issue, including the Philadelphia Flyers' chief financial and administrative officer, Blair Listino.

Here's their full conversation in The Hockey News' True Hockey Talk:

Read along with an excerpt from their discussion:

W. GRAEME ROUSTAN: For those who don't know who you are, what do you do here?

BLAIR LISTINO: I oversee our finance and administration, which really means finance, technology and compliance. And I also have a really fun part of my job. I oversee community relations and charities. So I oversee our foundation, and I'm also an alternate governor with Dan (Hilferty, Flyers governor), Keith (Jones) and John Master.

WGR: That sounds like about eight hats.

BL: It's a lot of hats to wear, but I have a fabulous team. And I've been doing it for a while. So I've taken on more responsibility every year.

WGR: How long have you been here?

BL: This is my 13th season.

WGR: We're sitting here in a beautiful arena, just going through a multi-year, $400-million upgrade. It's a daunting task, isn't it?

BL: Yes, and we did spectacularly at it. We did not close down during the summers. We continued with concerts the whole time. We were able to block off areas as we worked. We did more in the off-season, especially on the event floor, but we were able to do it and function 100 percent of the time, which is truly amazing.

It started off when the DNC was here, and part of the DNC's media, what they do in the different boxes, is they had to blow out a lot of suites. That got us to think, "We've been planning. Hey, should we renovate? Should we build a new arena? What should we do?" We decided at that time the best thing to do was a transformation. That started back right after the 2016 DNC, with the suite levels after those had been torn down anyway. So we decided, "OK, let's rebuild them and transform them into something newer and nicer."

WGR: That creates a revenue opportunity, doesn't it?

BL: It does. The first thing we always looked at was a return on investment. There are some items we looked at that maybe are not a direct return on investment but fan experience as well as our player experience. Making sure our dressing rooms and facilities on the event level, where our players are day in and day out, are the best in the arena for the footprint we have. We didn't build extensively underground, but with the footprint we had, we made it the best it could be in the dressing room in the facility down there.

WGR: So that was fantastic. It turned out great. Now, you're going to go build a new one.

BL: Now, we're going to build a new one. In 2030.

WGR: That's unbelievable.

BL: Sometimes I can't believe it. I feel like we just completed this one, but we do know, in 2030, there is going to be new technology. There is going to be a different way fans want to experience the game. It gives us that opportunity to come in and reimagine the fan experience and some of our premium areas and sightlines, even the way you walk into the building.

WGR: You are at a very high-level managerial role. You continue to climb the ladder and take on more responsibility. How important is it to have more women represented in professional sports across all professions?

BL: It's really important. One of the things with women's sports where you're seeing a change is that women are represented in the sports side a lot more heavily. The business side, I feel like a lot of sports are getting there. There's still a lot of firsts. And I can't wait until we're not saying, "No, it's the first GM or the first coach."

Once we're not saying that, we'll be at a better spot. But with the women's side, with these leagues growing, they are attracting the best talent at the GM level, the president level and the CEO level. They're filling their team side with tons of women.

I would say the NHL has done a great job with their leadership staff. And then Dan has done a great job. I have five direct reports, and four are women. I keep trying to find talent. And, sometimes, it might not be in the sports world. To say, "OK, your skill set that you have, you didn't grow up in sports. But to be our head of HR or to be the head of compliance, you don't need that skill set. You can learn that, and let's bring you in and raise you at the top."

For more interviews with a deep look into the world of the hockey business, check out The Hockey News' Money & Power 2026 issue, available at THN.com/free.