Meet the woman who helped bring several major sports events to Minnesota

Debbie Estes does not like the spotlight.

"No, I am a behind-the-scenes person," she said.

And what scenes she has been behind: the Gymnastics Olympic Trials, the Men's Final Four, the Women's Final Four and she brought the Super Bowl to Minnesota, too.

"That moment they say 'Minneapolis,' you go ' Oh my gosh, we can do this, yeah.'" Estes said.

It's one of the pinnacles of a career Estes never saw coming. She majored in political science and history. 

"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 said.

Estes used that talent to host events for Target for 20 years, then Best Buy for 13 and then what she calls her encore career 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 said.

As proud as she is of the sports events, she's even more proud of the free events they create around them.

"Most of the events, not everybody can attend, there's so many tickets, but they want to feel a part of it," Estes said.

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 said.

Estes' next big project will be welcoming the WWE Summer Slam to U.S. Bank Stadium in August.