Shelby Link is the third woman to serve as president of GCU’s Sports and Entertainment Business Club in 10 years.
Photo: Ralph Freso
As Grand Canyon University celebrates its 75th anniversary, the Sports & Entertainment Business Club is celebrating a special honor.
This is the third time in the club’s 10-year history that a woman has held the leadership role.
“We’ve been here on the GCU campus for 10 years and have been able to make our mark across campus and across Phoenix state,” club president Shelby Link said Monday night at the club’s annual tailgate party at Riverbed.
This is one of many events during Welcome Week, and the club is one of several high-profile events during the week: the Modern Boardgamers Guild will be at Riverbed on Wednesday at 2:30pm, and a large club and community fair is scheduled for Friday at the Canyon Activities Centre from 10am-2pm.
“It’s really amazing to see our club grow and become what it is today, and now to be able to do this as a woman, I never thought I’d be in this position my freshman year, but I’m excited to now have this job and show that anyone can do this job.”
“I’m excited to represent the club as best as I can.”
To ease her academic load as she enters her senior year, Link took two classes this summer and also interned for the Mesa-based Utah Royals FC of the Women’s Premier Soccer League, helping with stadium operations from installing goal nets to making public address announcements.
“It was hot, but it was fun,” Link said. “I’d never worked in soccer before.”
Joe Missurelli, chief marketing officer for GCU’s Sports and Entertainment Business Club, will read out the winning numbers on the Arizona Diamondbacks tickets.
She also dedicated herself to her duties at State Farm Stadium, where she officiated Copa America soccer matches.
The Copa’s electric atmosphere is matched by Link’s strong desire to move into stadium operations full-time: She’s worked for State Farm and Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas during the past two Super Bowls and also worked for State Farm in April during the NCAA men’s Final Four tournament.
“I love stadium operations,” said Link, a Cottonwood, Ariz., native. “I love the behind-the-scenes side of it all. I love making memories and working in a stadium. When you walk into a stadium, you see the potential, the excitement and the memories you can make there, so I’m looking forward to all of that.”
Link hopes to work in stadium operations, similar to GCU graduate Andrew Hudgins, manager of stadium development and operations at the Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium.
Link and Hudgins each served as spring training interns with the Oakland Athletics, with Hudgins working for the Bay Area Athletics before joining the Raiders.
“It’s great what he’s doing,” Link said. “It’s really great to see someone come out of our club and have such success.”
“There are so many other success stories that we barely touch upon. This year we want to shine the spotlight on our alumni. It’s really amazing what we can do and what GCU students can do after they graduate.”
SEBC President Shelby Link plays Spikeball during the club’s tailgate event.
Along with her studies and her part-time job at Biltmore Golf Course, Link also finds time to hone her duties as president of the Sports & Entertainment Business Club.
“We’re a community of like-minded people with the same goals and aspirations and we want them to be successful,” Link said. “It’s just incredible, and that’s why I’ve been a part of this club for the last four years and I want to make sure it’s successful.”
The rink has strong support from the club’s chief marketing officer, Joe Missurelli.
“It’s great for the club,” Missurelli said. “Our club is made up of mostly men, but it shows that it’s open to women and men. Shelby is obviously behind that. She does a lot of behind-the-scenes work that most people don’t know about. She’s a great president, especially during the summer. She puts her heart into the work.”
Eliza Smith hopes the internship will help her land a community relations job with a professional sports team.
Missurelli also prepared for a career in sports marketing after graduation, which is scheduled for the spring, by spending summer mornings interning with TEAM LAMMI, a sports marketing agency that connects Milwaukee-area professional athletes (including former Green Bay Packers standout receiver Donald Driver) with companies that see a fit for those sports and hosts events for the foundation.
“These athletes want to do more than just the sport itself,” said Missurelli, who is originally from the Milwaukee area.
During the afternoons and evenings, Missurelli worked in the Milwaukee Brewers ticket office as an intern for two consecutive summers. Missurelli said his experience working in the GCU Arena ticket office helped him land an internship with the Brewers, where he also worked in marketing and sponsorship efforts.
“You have to be adaptable and open to all new opportunities,” said Missurelli, a business administration major.
Eliza Smith, a sports entertainment management major, is seeing the benefits of working as a sports coordinator and recreation assistant for the Parks and Recreation Department in her hometown of Idaho Falls, Idaho, for the second year in a row.
“I want to work in professional sports and have a community-relations career,” said Smith, who played ice hockey in high school, “so being able to have that community aspect, especially where I’m from, is really cool. I hope I can do that at a bigger level one day.”
GCU senior writer Mark Gonzales can be contacted at [email protected]
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