With the Super Bowl held in Phoenix, events hosted at Verizon Super Bowl Central had definite Latino sabor. This week, the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee sponsored a full day of Latin oriented programs and David Farca was a driving force in organizing the events.

Farca, originally from Mexico, has an architectural interiors and furnishing business based in Scottsdale, with offices in Los Cabos, Mexico and Mexico City. With businesses on both sides of the U.S. border, he understands the influence and significance of Mexican and Latin culture in Arizona.

"A lot of the fabric of Arizona is the Hispanic community," he said. "Thirty percent of our population is Hispanic and the middle class is growing significantly. We (the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee) wanted to showcase that with everything we were doing with the Super Bowl."

The all-day event featured performances by Tucson's cumbia band, Chicha Dust, local favorite Jaleo Band and Puerto Rican reggaeton musician Wisin. There were also autograph sessions with NFL Hispanic alumni. All the events were free.

The events were three years in the making and were designed to enhance and expand the reach of the Super Bowl. "A lot of times it's a very small amount of people in the state who get to go to the Super Bowl. These events are family friendly and allow people to be part of that experience without having to go to the game."

In addition to the events, for the first time in Super Bowl history there was a country exhibit, "Mexico: Live it To Believe it." The exhibit took up an entire block and featured sculptures, high tech displays and fantastic images of the country and its people. "It's the first time a host committee for the Super Bowl made an outreach to another country," said Farca. "We're very proud of our efforts."

It also made sense from an economic standpoint. "We have learned that there are also 23 million NFL fans already, the second largest market for the NFL so it just makes sense for us to make that part of our efforts," he said. "This is a market that the U.S. can no longer ignore."

"Mexico is our number 1 trading partner to the state with $14 billion in revenue," he said. "We are a border state with a Hispanic community and they are part of our everyday business. We wanted to make it part of our big Super Bowl party this week," he added.