Photo credit: Miami FC
Sean Flynn is no stranger to the towering roller coaster ride taken by most professional sports teams that call South Florida home.
“American football is big in South Florida,” Flynn told NASL.com. “But in Miami-Dade County, soccer is No. 1. And that’s becoming evident more each day.”
Flynn joined the NASL club in late August as the chief executive officer of Miami FC, taking along an impressive résumé that included stints with the United Soccer Leagues, the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning and MLB’s Miami Marlins. His current portfolio, as handed down by the club’s co-owner, the international media entrepreneur Riccardo Silva, is to help build the club’s front office and off-the-field operations.
“Our market is really passionate about the sport and we’ve really started to resonate in the market,” he said. “We’re starting to tell our story.”
Flynn and his colleagues at Miami FC are all too aware of the knock on South Florida sports fans, often characterized as fickle frontrunners. Flynn does not completely disagree.
“It is probably one of the most challenging sports and entertainment markets in North America and that makes it incumbent upon the team and us to build compelling reasons to come to the game,” he said. “Our job as the front office and the staff of Miami FC is to create and offer programming around our core product, and our core product is soccer.”
A late-season surge under coach Alessandro Nesta and associated gameday events have helped to draw healthy crowds to Ocean Bank Field, a venue that Flynn calls “a nice environment with great sight lines.”
He said that the club is working with Florida International University to make improvements to the facility, which could include a switch from artificial turf to grass, upgrades to the video board, and other possible improvements.
“When a fan or supporter comes to a Miami FC game their experience starts with getting in their car, traffic issues, parking, lines at the gate – that’s on us,” Flynn said. “Are the hot dogs hot? The beer cold? The restrooms clean? Yes, we’re also talking about bigger items – grass, video, Wifi. These things all affect supporters’ memory of the experience they had. If they had a great time they’ll want to come back.”
Before making his move back to soccer, Flynn was the senior vice president of marketing and event booking with the Miami Marlins, and vice president of marketing with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He started his sports career as the director of marketing and sales for the United Soccer Leagues. Flynn received his Master's in sports administration from St. Thomas University in Miami, and completed his undergraduate work in accounting at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Tex.
“The passion I’ve seen toward this sport I hadn’t seen where I’ve worked before,” he said. “This game in this market, we’re tapping into something that’s never been tapped into before. Sure there have been multiple attempts at pro soccer here, but I’m not sure they were done with the approach we’ve taken. Our ownership understands it will take a while, but has the resources to see it through for the long haul. People have come and gone in the past, but we’re in a position to be a major-league front office, building a staff that knows the market and the industry, and is putting plans in place with strategic vision and is going out to execute it. The biggest difference with the other sports I’ve worked in is the passion for soccer in this market.”
With the 2016 NASL regular season nearing its conclusion and Miami FC still among a handful of clubs battling for the final berth in The Championship, Flynn and his staff are focused on the present, with a keen eye on next year and beyond.
“Remember that I came in halfway through the season, and now we will really have a true offseason to go out and build a sales department and a proper marketing campaign,” he said. “You do your best to get a team out there, but also realize you need to make some changes. We did. Now we have a core group to move forward with, that we’re comfortable with. We’ve built a core that we’re happy with and now it’s time to look ahead.”
