Valley Sports Leaders Collaborate to Elevate Sports Business in Arizona

Some of the greatest sports business minds in The Valley participated in a unique collaboration in Scottsdale earlier this week, including a member of The Pack.

Arizona Coyotes President and CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez joined an esteemed group of colleagues at the Phoenix Business Journal’s Business of Sports seminar at Scottsdale’s Western Spirit Museum on Tuesday, discussing sports-related business practices and collaboration efforts within the state of Arizona.

The event featured two panels, one regarding college sports and one regarding professional sports, and the two-hour event highlighted both how and why sports are such an imperative business within Arizona’s economy.

Gutierrez was joined by Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein, Phoenix Raceway Track President Latasha Causey, and Arizona Diamondbacks Executive Vice President of Business Operations and Chief Revenue Officer Cullen Maxey in the day’s second session, which was narrated by the Phoenix Business Journal’s Editor in Chief, Greg Barr.

“Sports are important to Arizona,” Gutierrez said. “Corporate leaders, community leaders, and elected officials all come together to support the sports industry and see it as such a valuable part of the brand of Arizona. These gatherings are important to highlight and talk about how we are at the forefront of a lot of the innovation going on in sports.

“I’m really grateful that the Phoenix Business Journal put this together.”

The professional sports session covered a wide variety of topics, including the current television landscape, the engagement strategies of current and future audiences, content generation across all platforms, the use and evolution of technology and artificial intelligence, and sponsorship opportunities within the shifting landscape of how audiences are reached.

All four panelists shared lessons learned and best practices, highlighting how their similar interests and collaboration efforts contribute to one of the country’s most vibrant sports landscapes.

“There’s always a lot of lessons learned that we love to share, but I also love to hear them,” Gutierrez said. “Sports is such a dynamic business. I’m on the record saying I didn’t know if I’d like the business of sports when I made my career transition, but it has been absolutely transformative.”

Bartelstein, who was named Suns and Mercury CEO in April, said his time in The Valley after eight years with the Detroit Pistons has already confirmed what he already knew when he accepted the position – the Arizona community offers one of the best sports business industries in the country, if not the world, especially when partnering with colleagues such as Gutierrez, Causey, and Maxey, among others.

“I think that’s just the power, the ecosystem here, and the climate here,” Bartelstein said. “Having been here for eight months now, everyone wants to try to help each other, and there’s so much power in that. You saw that collaboration here today, the power of all of us behind each other and pushing all of sports forward in Arizona.”

The event opened with a college sports panel, which was made up of Executive Director and CEO of the Fiesta Bowl, Erik Moses, President and CEO of the 2024 Men’s Final Four Host Committee, Jay Parry, and Arizona State University Men’s Basketball Head Coach, Bobby Hurley.

That session, hosted by Phoenix Business Journal sports business reporter Brandon Brown, was similar in nature, discussing both annual economic impact events, such as the Fiesta Bowl, as well as destination events, such as the and Men’s Final Four.

Each help foster the sports business ecosystem in different ways, but are collectively part of an engine that can bring hundreds of millions of dollars into Arizona’s economy.

The panel discussed strategies and challenges around attracting events and tourists to The Valley when upstart locations such as Las Vegas continue to evolve and attract new audiences. Moses joked that, “Las Vegas keeps me up at night,” but then highlighted the reasons Arizona continues to thrive as a destination, including its superb hosting history, strong infrastructure, and pre-and-post-event experiences, such as hiking, biking, and its proximity to the Grand Canyon, among other things.

Whether in the collegiate or professional ranks, the business of pro sports continues to make great strides in both The Valley and the state, and it’s the major sports teams that act as a catalyst for that growth.

“It's such a great sports town,” Bartelstein said. “Arizona is such a great home to all of these teams, and our job is to keep pushing them forward and be stewards, and when you do that, we’re all better for it.”

Gutierrez agreed.

“The collaboration amongst the teams and the entities is special, and we all support each other,” he said. “We know that the tide lifts all boats, and we really take that approach.”

Lead Photo courtesy of Bennett Silvyn / Cronkite News