Debbie Estes doesn’t like the highlight.
“No, I am a behind-the-scenes person,” she stated.
And what scenes she has been behind: the Gymnastics Olympic Trials, the Men’s Final Four, the Women’s Final Four and he or she introduced the Super Bowl to Minnesota, too.
“That moment they say ‘Minneapolis,’ you go ‘ Oh my gosh, we can do this, yeah.'” Estes stated.
It’s certainly one of the pinnacles of a profession Estes by no means noticed coming. She majored in political science and historical past.
“I worked on campaigns and was an advance person at the White House, and I realized creativeness and making it happen was really fun and I was really good at it,” she stated.
Estes used that expertise to host events for Target for 20 years, then Best Buy for 13 after which what she calls her encore profession at Minnesota Sports and Events.
“Sports is that denominator that brings people together, and I am so glad that I have the opportunity to do it,” Estes stated.
As proud as she is of the sports events, she’s much more pleased with the free events they create round them.
“Most of the events, not everybody can attend, there’s so many tickets, but they want to feel a part of it,” Estes stated.
Something else she’s championed is visibility for all.
“When the women’s basketball teams were starting, you kinda had to fight to say we need to sponsor the NBA and the WNBA and now it’s a no-brainer. That’s progress,” Estes stated.
Estes’ subsequent massive venture might be welcoming the WWE Summer Slam to U.S. Bank Stadium in August.