NHS Hosts Sports Centered Luncheon

Washington, DC – April 8, 2013.  NHS Washington DC  hosts the “NHS 3rd Thursday Luncheon” series and meeting of NHS members and guests featuring distinguished speakers from a broad range of backgrounds.  The April event and future NHS 3rd Thursday luncheons are sponsored by NHS and co-hosted with the American Hellenic Institute (AHI).  AHI President Nick Larigakis welcomed the guests and expressed thanks to the NHS for the opportunity to work collaboratively on shared goals including reach-out to young professionals.

The meeting centered on the sports industry with guest speakers Larry Michaels, Senior Vice-President, Executive Producer of Media and the “voice” of the Washington Redskins and Zach Leonsis, Business Development Director of Monumental Sports, the owners of the NBA’s Washington Wizards, NHL’s Washington Capitals, WNBA’s Washington Mystics and the Verizon Center.  The speakers provided an insider’s view of the sports industry from the perspective of the management.  Both speakers provided the riveted audience an insightful explanation of the interplay of sports industry economics and media and broadcasting rights and distribution–the latter comprising sports industry revenue generation.

Guests were treated to a lively and interesting question and answer discussion yielding keen insight and anecdotal stories from both speakers.  Larry Michael’s background as a broadcaster spanning everything from boxing, the Master’s Golf Tournament to the Olympics and now the voice of the Washington Redskins was attributed to the importance of his Greek heritage.  Zach also spoke of the importance and responsibility that sports teams have in helping forge the notion of a “community” in major metropolitan areas—something he relates to also with his Greek heritage—a point of great pride in his life.

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