Understanding When the Time is Right to Leave a Job in Your Sports Career

By: Kolby Castillo

 ​On the latest Sports As A Job podcast episode, I spoke to Matt Farrell the President of Farrell Sports Worldwide. I asked him, “When is the right time to make the leap or a change in your career?” The change I am referring to is leaving a job for a different job. Based on his career he was the right person to ask. Farrell made several changes in his 20 plus years of his sports career. One day, we are going to be faced with this decision. Maybe you are facing that decision right now. Maybe, you are even thinking about leaving the sports industry. It is important to understand when to make this important change in your career. It seems that it is more common now that people are going from job to job. Is that good or bad? When is the right time to look for another opportunity? When do you start to entertain offers from other organizations? Thankfully Farrell is able to provide some insight based on his own decisions. 

​Matt Farrell’s Overall Journey

​In 1999, he went from Manager of Online Projects with the United States Olympic Committee to working for Warner Home Video as the Director of Internet Marketing. He spent a year there then made his way back into sports again with the United States Olympic Committee but as the Associate Director of Entertainment Properties. For many of us the dream is to find an organization we can call home for a long time. Matt spent 13 years from 2005 to 2018 as the Chief Marketing Officer for USA Swimming. In 2018, he makes another change to work for the Golf Channel as the General Manager of Alternative Golf/Executive Director World Long Drive. Bring it to current day in 2020 he departed from the Golf Channel to start his own Agency. 

​Is it good or bad?

Farrell’s dad worked in the same industry and organization for fifty plus years. Farrell himself worked for USA Swimming for 13 years, which to many of us seems long. According to Doyle of balancecareers.com she states, “The median tenure for workers age 25 to 34 is 3.2 years.” Just like Matt’s dad when most of our parents were in their twenties to their thirties the average time spent at one job was a lot longer. It was more common to be with one organization for a long time. As Farrell states, “There is no right or wrong to it. But it is sensing when it’s the right time to leave an organization.” This change described by Farrell is a strategic change. It is not simply to just make ten percent more on your paycheck. 

​From USOC to Warner Brothers

​When Farrell left his job with the USOC in 1999 to Warner Home Video, it was a time when DVD’s were the emerging technology. We think that the path to achieving success in a sports career means working in sports from beginning to end. There have been so many guests that I had on the podcast that left the sports industry then made their way back. Some did not even start in sports right after college. Farrell leaves sports after several years of already being in the industry.  He left sports not for the paycheck, it was the early days of the internet and marketing on the internet.  Farrell’s reason of leaving sports was, “Where better to learn internet marketing than Warner Brothers and capitalize on what was a new technology. It was a break from traditional sports information but I saw it as a great opportunity to learn.” Ultimately, the Olympic World came calling after just a year and Farrell returned to the sports world in 2005.  

Goals and Interests Change

Bring us to current day, Farrell starts his own agency in the middle of the pandemic. There were things that happened out of his control that played a part in his decision to start his own agency. Over his career he gained many skills making himself a generalist. He gained a great overall sense of the sports industry as a whole. Farrell decided to take all of us his experiences to help him build his agency. As we discussed on the podcast, there are emerging trends that may see sports organization looking for outside agencies to do contract work. It was understanding that the time was right for him to no longer work for another organization but to see what he can build himself. 

​There is no right answer to when you make a change. How long you stay at a job will vary? If you take away anything from Farrell’s journey it is that you are the only person that will know when it is right. It is internally that you must strategically make the choice. Don’t do it simply do it for the paycheck. There are many things to consider. He left sports because he saw an opportunity to learn and develop. Farrell leaves a position he held for 13 years because of the realization internally that his career interest changed. At the end of the day there is no set path to where you want to end up in your sports career. Your end destination may change in a couple years. Change is normal and acceptable. 

Sources:

http://bit.ly/MattFarrell
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https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-long-should-an-employee-stay-at-a-job-2059796#:~:text=Average%20Length%20of%20Time%20at%20a%20Job&text=The%20median%20number%20of%20years,to%2034%20is%203.2%20years.