Sonnenfeldt follows passions to become track agent

By Dave Devine for DyeStat

It’s a Tuesday afternoon in early August.

The 2017 IAAF Track and Field World Championships are well underway in London, England—day 5 of 10.

Unfurled in the available space of a friend’s apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina— his old college town— Matthew Sonnenfeldt tunes into the meet the same way track fans around the country are following the midday action: a patchwork solution of laptop stream, Web site refresh and Twitter feed. 

Open the Mac. Pull up the NBC Gold package. AirPlay it to his buddy’s television.

Twitter and texts on the cell.

While he’s looking forward to the day’s events with the fervor of a lifelong track enthusiast, Sonnenfeldt’s interest extends well beyond passionate fandom.

A member of the four-person team at Flynn Sports Management, he’s following and supporting multiple London competitors represented by his agency. 

Among them are American distance stars Molly Huddle and Ryan Hill; mid-distance standouts Ajeé Wilson, Johnny Gregorek and Robby Andrews; top U.S. sprinter Ameer Webb; Jamaican distance runner Kemoy Campbell; and British miler Chris O’Hare.

A formidable stable, though none are competing this day.

Sonnenfeldt is busy nevertheless, following the races, tracking the finishes, keeping up with background narratives from London, updating Flynn Sports’ social media feeds. 

Juggling roles and spinning plates.

Because even with the eyes of the track world trained collectively on London, Flynn-represented athletes are competing domestically as well. 

Up and down the East Coast, a busy calendar of summer meets, twilight miles and distance festivals. 

Even Sonnenfeldt’s presence here in Raleigh is no mere nostalgia trip to the old college stomping grounds, not simply a convenient excuse to crash at a friend’s place for a few days. The Sir Walter Miler event was Monday, culminating in a pair of elite four-lap races won by Flynn athletes Amanda Eccleston and Drew Hunter.

On the men’s side, “Flynn Sporters” took first (Hunter), second (recently signed Craig Engels) and fourth (Graham Crawford).

A good night all around. 

With that event in the books, Sonnenfeldt is dialed back into the World Champs.

As the newest employee at an agency that has tried to make its name by focusing squarely on the interests of the athlete, he’s constantly pushing back against the familiar stereotype of sports agent as jet-setting opportunist.

But if there’s one cliché from the Hollywood agent archetype that Sonnenfeldt can neither deny nor dismiss, it’s this:

“The cell phone is always on,” he admits with a grim chuckle. “That’s something you learn as you keep doing it. It’s twenty-four-seven. Meets are on the weekend; athletes are travelling and might need you on the weekend. You’re the point guy, and you have the information for them. You have to make them feel safe and that they’re being taken care of. So you’ve got to have your cell phone on, you’ve got to be ready to go.”

* * *

Surrounded by the sport of running as a child, Sonnenfeldt’s path to working for an athletics agency was by no means linear.

His father, Marty, and mother, Betty, met as athletes on the University of Tennessee track team. Marty had been recruited from the Netherlands in 1975 by legendary coach Stan Huntsman, and immediately made an impact as a cross country harrier and 10,000-meter man on the track.

Remaining in Knoxville after graduation, Marty continued running competitively while embarking on a career in the orthopedic implant and medical equipment industry, volunteering his time on the side with the youth portion of the local Knoxville Track Club (KTC).  Eventually, Marty stepped away from the business world altogether, assuming leadership of KTC’s youth programming as the full-time director, elevating an already successful outreach to a nationally-respected program.

Even raised within this track-rich environment, Matthew never felt pressured into the sport.

“My parents never pushed me into running,” he says. “It was something I did because I made friends that way, and I had a lot of friends doing it. At an early age, I didn’t take it seriously. My dream was to be a football player.”

Those gridiron dreams took a hit when Sonnenfeldt began to show promise as a middle schooler on the KTC youth team.

“I ran pretty well at the Junior Olympics the year going into high school,” he says now. “Better than I thought I would. And that showed me I had a little potential. Once I got to high school, once I made the decision to really focus on track, that’s when my commitment went to the next level.”

The increased commitment eventually produced an individual cross country state title and a senior-year berth in the 2008 Foot Locker national final.

After initially matriculating to the University of Kentucky, he transferred to North Carolina State University in 2010, joining famed coach Rollie Geiger’s talented Wolfpack squad. In Raleigh, he found himself surrounded by teammates he’d previously competed against as a prep— guys like Andrew Colley and Ryan Hill. 

In the classroom, Sonnenfeldt sought ways to connect a sport that was increasingly woven into his sense of self with the coursework unfolding in his major: sports management, with a minor in business.

With the Olympic Trials approaching in the summer of 2012, Matthew parlayed local track connections into a conversation with Tennessee-based agent Ray Flynn, asking if Flynn would be open to Sonnenfeldt shadowing him at the Eugene trials.

“It was really a no-pressure situation for Ray,” Sonnenfeldt recalls, “because I was already going to be at the 2012 Olympic Trials with my family. So, I kind of just begged him to follow him around. I went there, they got me some passes, and I tried to soak in as much as I could.”

The job shadow led to additional connections and some significant behind-the-scenes exposure for Sonnenfeldt, but it didn’t coalesce into a firm sense that his future was in sports agency work.

Still only midway through his own collegiate career, Sonnenfeldt says he “still had pipe dreams of wanting to be a runner myself. Going into college, I knew I was interested in business and marketing, but I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with it, so I guess in a way, (the Trials experience) helped a little bit, but I don’t know if that was far enough down my college career where it was a definitive moment, like: This is what I want to do.”

But even as Sonnenfeldt’s Wolfpack efforts continued, even as he qualified for the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Championships that fall, whittled his 5,000 time to 13:59 on the oval that spring, he stayed in touch with Flynn. 

He interviewed Ray for an assignment in one of his sports management courses.

He took on some side work for Flynn—updating website bios and social media feeds for the busy agency.

And then, knowing he needed to cobble together an internship for the final year of his major, Sonnenfeldt went back to the well one more time, asking if Flynn would take him on as an intern in the summer of 2013.

Flynn agreed, and that summer—spent coordinating and supporting athlete travel around the European circuit from the agency’s summer base in Leuven, Belgium—finally brought Sonnenfeldt to the realization that he’d found his vocation.

“What really opened my eyes,” he says, “was going overseas and doing that internship in Europe.”  

While the entire summer was transformative, one moment emerged as an indelible highlight.

Sonnenfeldt’s former teammate and close friend, Ryan Hill—already signed with Flynn’s agency— was a surprise qualifier for the U.S. team to the 2013 World Championship in the 5,000, after charging to third at the U.S. championship, but he lacked the qualifying standard to compete in Moscow.

Sonnenfeldt had the opportunity to watch his friend chase that standard in Europe.

“You want to see your friends do well,” Sonnenfeldt says now, “and having a prior relationship with Ryan, seeing him qualify in 2013 for his first World team right out of college, that was a cool day. And then, being able to travel over to Europe with him, because that coincided with the year I interned with Ray, and to see him get the World standard— being at that race where he was able to get the standard, that was cool.”

Hill delivered a 13:14.22 personal best in a July 6 race in Heusden, Belgium, achieving not only the “B” standard, but bettering the “A” standard as well. 

With that breakthrough race, Hill’s ticket to Moscow was officially punched, and a career that has included a world indoor silver medal, multiple national titles and three U.S. team berths to the outdoor World Championships, was set in motion.

In the same Heusden stadium, Hill’s old Wolfpack teammate, Sonnenfeldt, was solidifying his future as well, forging a different path forward, toward a career that would connect them for years to come.

* * *

The founder and namesake of Flynn Sports Management speaks with a gentle Irish lilt, his Longford brogue still pronounced more than 40 years after moving to the United States to attend East Tennessee State University (ETSU) on an athletic scholarship. 

Twice an Olympian and still the Irish mile record holder at 3:49.77, Ray Flynn began representing athletes when he retired in 1989, filling a need he observed as a competitor for knowledgeable, supportive agents who understood the nuances of the elite track and field circuit.

At the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon, Flynn sat down for an interview for the RunnerSpace Influencers video series.

“I have a small business,” he says, by way of explaining what he does, “with three other employees, and we manage the careers of the athletes we represent…I really love what I do. I get up every day and enjoy my work because it’s what I grew up with, loving the sport.”

Invited, in that 2016 interview, to explain his approach to working with the athletes he represents, Flynn describes a goal-focused conversation between the agent, the athlete and the coach: Where do you want to be at the end of the year— what’s the most important thing— and then work backwards from there.

“People think that agents are about maximizing earnings,” he says, acknowledging a common perception. “That’s a nice goal to have, but my philosophy is that (the athlete) will maximize their earnings if they maximize their performance. So, the first and most important goal is for them to run at their best when it matters. They’ll make the money along the way.”

Under Flynn’s mentorship, Sonnenfeldt has taken that philosophy and grafted it onto his own approach for supporting athletes.

“It’s Ray’s company,” he says. “He started it from the ground up. He’s the guy that’s given me, and the other people who work for him, the opportunity. He’s the boss and he has the vision.”

That vision, Sonnenfeldt asserts, is that, “We work for the athlete. You hear ‘agent’ and there’s a lot you can think of, but we work for the athletes. With this sport, you don’t learn a lot in your major about it. It’s such a niche. At the end of the day, most of the stuff I’ve learned in the business is from Ray— Ray and Brad.” 

“Brad” is Brad Yewer, another ETSU track-athlete-turned-agent, and Flynn’s right-hand man at Flynn Sports.

He’s heard all the stereotypes about agents, too.

“I sometimes think agents get a bad name,” Yewer allowed in a 2011 RunnerSpace interview. “Sometimes we get a bad rap…because you’re involved with the financial side of the sport, sometimes people get the impression that it’s money-grabbing agents—I hear that all the time.  Are there people out there that are like that? Probably. But most agents…we’re here and we work hard— really hard — for the people we represent.”

Asked to identify the most important thing he’s learned from Flynn in his time at the agency, Sonnenfeldt struggles with specificity, leaning instead toward expansiveness.

“Ray’s given me…everything. Really. Like I said, I kind of had to beg my way in with the internships and everything. I’m very fortunate for the chances he’s given me. I’ve grown every year I’ve been with him.”

* * *

Sonnenfeldt’s official title within the four-person agency is Marketing Assistant and Promotions Coordinator, but like most jobs featuring the sort of fluidity he’s courted, the list of responsibilities ranges broadly and varies daily.

“It’s different every day,” he says, “and I don’t know if there’s one title that can describe what I do. Some days you could be doing meet entry, some days you could be doing travel, some days...other logistical tasks. Others days it might be marketing. Any given day you could be talking to an athlete or someone in marketing from a shoe company or an elite athlete coordinator or a race director.”

After two years of desk time in the Johnson City office, Sonnenfeldt recently relocated to Boston, and now works remotely from that locale. Factoring in the move, his 2016 wedding to wife Abby, and the general busyness of his work for Flynn Sports, his own running has taken a back seat for the time being.

“I’m still trying to train,” he says, “but it’s been on the back burner in the last year.”

Nonetheless, he makes sure the running shoes are packed for every trip.

“It keeps me sane, I enjoy it. It’s a good way to exercise, and it’s been a big part of my life for so long that I don’t know what I’d do without it. Brad and I run in the morning every day at meets. It’s good to go out and run before things get crazy, to kind of decompress.”

That travel will be less frequent now, as the European season winds down, but there is still plenty to do in the coming weeks.

A smattering of international track events remain.

Several elite road miles are looming on the calendar; the start lists will be littered with Flynn athletes.

Fall marathon season lies ahead.

Collegiate cross country is underway, and that brings a rising crop of young stars to follow.   

There are plates to spin, reservations to make, athletes to support and connect and promote.  

“There’s always a balance,” Sonnenfeldt says, “just like any other job.”

But even as he says this, it’s clear this profession is quite different from just about any other job. 

There’s been a great deal to learn, much of it on the fly, but he’s been fortunate to apprentice with some of the best in the business.     

“Ray and Brad have been doing it for years. Ray more than Brad, and Brad more than me, so there’s a good system in place. You have to get your hands dirty. You have to learn, but you also have to make mistakes… And they’ve allowed me to do all of that.”