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Sports and entertainment club aims to open up competitive industry

January 21, 2016

Mark Hollis, Mario Impemba and Leigh Steinberg all have two things in common. They have made a successful career for themselves in the sports and entertainment industry and they have all visited MSU's Future Leaders in Sports and Entertainment club to provide networking opportunities for members.

Hollis is the athletics director at MSU, Impemba is a play-by-play analyst for the Detroit Tigers on Fox Sports Detroit and Steinberg is a veteran NFL Agent who has been in the business for more than 40 years.

FLISE has 75 to 100 members and its purpose is to help students work their way into the competitive industry of sports and entertainment, the club's adviser Desireé Melfi said.

“There is a mindset that successful students have, who go graduate and go be successful, and I think it is to be able to go out and network themselves and meet new people while building relationships,” Melfi said.

President of FLISE and communication senior Madi Chadwick said the club was created in 2007 and led to the development of of a sports management minor for business students in the Eli Broad College of Business.

In addition to bringing big names to MSU, the club gives members the opportunity to network at sports venues during certain events.

On Jan. 16, FLISE took a trip to Auburn Hills and watched former Spartan Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors take on the Detroit Pistons. The club also had the opportunity to tour the facilities and see first hand the operations at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Communication senior and member of FLISE Nick Payne said he had the opportunity to attend an event similar to the recent Jan. 16 event.

"It was all Detroit executives and you got to see a lot of experienced and successful people, not to mention people in a similar spot to where you are at yourself,” Payne said. “In any career-based industry it’s all about who you know, so getting yourself out there to meet as many people as possible is partly why I joined FLISE. People help you get to a place where you want to be.”

Melfi said FLISE is all about giving students that extra push to be successful in a competitive industry.

“We give access into a world that is really hard to get into," Melfi said. "If you talk to anybody in the sports industry they will tell you that it is a hard industry to get into. If we can make that gap a little smaller, that’s what we want to do.”

FLISE has meetings every other Tuesday in IM Sports-West room 215.

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