Phoenix Sister Cities Global Links Business Outlook Luncheon Features The Sports Entertainment Industry

On September 14, 2017, Phoenix Sister Cities hosted the 18th Annual Global Links Business Outlook Luncheon at the Phoenix Convention Center. This year, the theme was: Challenges in the Sports Entertainment Industry, with over 170 people in attendance to learn about the topic.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton welcomed everyone to the luncheon. Mayor Stanton joined Phoenix Sister Cities Board Chairman Ralph Marchetta to present the 3rd Annual Mayor’s Export Awards to five winners. This year, the Export Champion of the Year award went to Metro Phoenix Export Alliance (MPEXA). The Product Exporter of the Year award went to Ping. The Core Institute received the award for Service Exporter of the Year. The Small Business Administration received the award for Export Service Provider of the Year for the public sector while Federal Express (FEDEX) won the award for Export Service Provider of the Year for the private sector.

Ralph Marchetta facilitated the luncheon with a powerful guest panel that included: Bobby Dulle, Chief Operating Officer of Phoenix Rising FC. He was joined by Josh Rawitch, Senior Vice President of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Jason Rowley, President of the Phoenix Suns. The most fascinating item for the panel focused on the desire for millennials to become more involved in the sports entertainment industry. The three panelists discussed how they would like to see younger individuals get more excited about sporting events by participating in games and fan zones, keeping track of their team’s progress, or even attending events or games in general. All three panelists gave the audience a lot of incredible insight on the challenges facing sports entertainment nationally, regionally, and locally. The 18th Annual Global Links Business Outlook Luncheon is one of the more important fundraisers for Phoenix Sister Cities and proved once again to be a successful event.

View the program for the event here: GL Program 2017