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Meet Dan Kurtz.
When Dan started touring colleges as a high school student, he thought he wanted to be an accountant. A few visits later, he wasn't so sure.
So his dad asked him a simple question: "What are you actually passionate about?"
The answer came quickly… Sports.
That conversation eventually led Dan to the University of New Haven, where he enrolled as a Sport Management major.
What followed wasn't a perfectly mapped-out college experience, but it was effective. Dan and a group of friends in the program developed a healthy competitive streak. If one person landed a volunteer opportunity, everyone else wanted to find one too. If someone secured an internship, the rest started asking questions about how they got it.
The result was a group of students constantly pushing each other to get involved.
Dan volunteered with Yale Athletics. He worked games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. He played club hockey. He interned with the Lancaster Barnstormers in minor league baseball. Every semester seemed to bring another opportunity. None were the end destination, but he knew they were all getting him closer to a full time career in sports.
The final stop along the way? An internship with the Connecticut Open, a professional women's tennis tournament held just before the US Open. Dan worked in sponsorship services and got his first real look at the partnership side of the business.
Around the same time, New Haven's relationship with Octagon, a top sports marketing agency, started creating opportunities of its own. Because one of Dan’s professors had a strong relationship with Octagon’s executive leadership, Dan and his classmates were presented with the chance to visit the company's headquarters in Stamford, hear from different departments, and participate in mock interviews with agency executives.
Through these experiences, Dan learned more about the agency and specifically their trainee program, which was essentially a six-month minimum wage post-grad internship. Not the most glamorous of opportunities, but Dan saw it for what it was: a path in.
Dan’s Career Path
After graduation, he and two other recent graduates landed the opportunity to work on a nation wide grass roots charity golf program. The catch, only one would have the opportunity to continue the program beyond the original 6 month window to support the culminating championship event at Pebble Beach.
Just like in college, Dan’s competitive drive kicked in.
Not long after starting, Dan was on a plane to California for his first event. Over the next several months he traveled all over the country supporting local charity golf events. He was enjoying the hell out of it (what an adventure for a recent college grad), but in the same breath he was also figuring out how he could stand out.
Dan’s approach was very intentional. After events he’d send recap notes, ask for feedback, identify what worked and what didn't, and ultimately highlight for himself and his manager what could be improved upon for the next trip. He was the first to volunteer when someone else on the team needed help, and he was willing to do the tasks and trips nobody else wanted to and with a smile on his face.
He wanted to become someone his managers could trust completely, and it wasn’t long before they did. Dan’s manager at the time described him to me as “the best trainee we had ever had, and nobody has come close since.”
After hearing that, it’s no surprise Dan earned the Pebble Beach assignment (and got to play!!) and shortly after was offered a full time role at the agency.
His new role was on the same team, but supporting a different client and event series. Still working within the world of golf, he was helping to plan and organize LPGA and PGA TOUR Champions tournaments that the agency operated. His responsibilities included managing volunteers, supporting sponsor activations, executing golf operations, and traveling to spend weeks onsite in different parts of the country to bring it all to life.
Then the pandemic hit.
Like most people working in events, Dan suddenly had a lot of time on his hands.
Partnerships and Agencies
When brands invest millions of dollars into sports sponsorships, they often rely on agencies to help them maximize that investment. Agencies act as strategic partners, helping brands identify the right teams, leagues, athletes, and events to partner with while ensuring those partnerships deliver meaningful business results. Depending on the client's needs, agencies may support everything from sponsorship strategy and negotiation to creative development, experiential marketing, hospitality, content production, measurement, and day-to-day partnership management.
Many of the biggest brands in sports work with agencies because managing partnerships has become incredibly complex. A single sponsorship might include media rights, social content, player appearances, hospitality programs, community initiatives, and in-market activations across dozens of events each year. Agency professionals serve as the bridge between the brand and the sports property, helping bring partnerships to life, solve problems, identify new opportunities, and ensure both sides are getting value from the relationship. For students interested in sports business, agency life can be an excellent place to start because it provides exposure to multiple sports, brands, properties, and areas of the industry early in your career.
Instead of waiting for live events to return, he (in classic Dan fashion) raised his hand and started helping Octagon's new business team. He researched emerging brands, supported RFPs, and got exposure to parts of the agency he hadn't worked closely with before.
One of those RFP’s was for a technology brand with a major NHL partnership. The golden opportunity for Dan, who had grown up playing hockey, understood the culture of the sport, and knew the league, the teams, and the fan bases like the back of his hand.
When Octagon won the business there was no doubt that Dan would be working on this team. What was maybe less expected was the ownership that Dan would end up having of the account.
Backed by his expertise in the sport, Dan was quickly leading client conversations, providing recommendations, leading the relationship with league partners, and managing programs that spanned from regular season events to Winter Classics and Stanley Cup Finals.
Most importantly, he hired me to be his right hand man through it all (just kidding… kind of).
Together, for the next two years, we traveled the country executing the partnership at the biggest NHL events on the calendar. It was a dream set up.
Then we received the news that sent it all crashing down.
Internal brand objectives were shifting, and the team was moving away from the partnership elements we supported.
Dan was presented with two options:
The first was staying on the experiential and events side of the business. He knew the work well by that point. He had built strong relationships there and could have continued growing along a path that felt familiar. The comfortable choice.
The second was to take on a new challenge and move onto one of Octagon’s largest integrated marketing accounts.
The second option won.
The transition brought him into the world of MLB partnerships while also exposing him to lifestyle, culinary, arts, culture, and city-based programs. There was plenty to learn, with new stakeholders, different objectives, and an expanded way of thinking about partnerships.
One year after joining the team, he was promoted to Account Director, earning his third promotion in as many years. A rapid rise on paper, but inside the organization people had been watching the same things for years. The eagerness to take on more responsibility, the consistency in results, the ability to adapt to different clients and types of work, and most importantly the trust he had built over his eight years with the agency.
Earlier this year, Dan made the move to Momentum Worldwide as Director of Partnerships, where he continues working across NHL and MLB partnerships.
I know I wasn’t the only one sad to see him go, but the move is right on brand.
A new opportunity to expand his skillset, make an impact, and continue growing his career. Getting back to hockey was just the cherry on top.
When your priorities are in the right place, the rest seems to take care of itself. It certainly has for Dan.
Key Takeaways
1. Be competitive
One of the most interesting parts of Dan's story was the environment he found himself in during college. He and his classmates constantly pushed each other to find new opportunities, gain experience, and improve their resumes. That mindset followed him throughout his career. Whether it was earning the Pebble Beach assignment as a trainee or taking ownership of major client programs, Dan was always looking for ways to separate himself.
2. Trust creates opportunities
Before the promotions came trust. Dan built a reputation for being dependable, proactive, and willing to take ownership. He followed through on commitments, communicated well, and consistently looked for ways to help his team. Over time, bigger opportunities followed because his managers trusted him to deliver.
3. Get outside your comfort zone
Several of the biggest moments in Dan's career came when he chose growth over comfort. He accepted a trainee role after graduation, moved into new areas of the business, and took on unfamiliar challenges when easier options existed. Each move expanded his skill set and opened doors that would not have existed otherwise.
Feeling Inspired? Check out these opportunities.
Closing Thoughts
Thank you for reading this week’s edition of So You Want to Work in Sports. I appreciate you being part of this community.
If you have ideas, feedback, or future guest suggestions, feel free to reach out at [email protected].
If you want more hands-on support as you navigate the start of your career within sports, book a 1:1 session with me here. The sooner you start preparing, the more confident you will feel when opportunities come your way.
Win the week!
-Ethan
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