Stephen Goldsmith knew early in his life that he eventually wanted a career working in sports.
The Princeton High graduate may not have been the greatest athlete growing up, but that didn’t deter him from following his dream.
“I love what I do,” said Goldsmith, who is in his second year of working for the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer. “It is a passion of mine. I am thankful to be working in sports. There are parts I miss about not being at home in Princeton. But I am 26 years old and this is a good opportunity here being in the fourth largest market in the country. I love what I do and I work with great people.”
Goldsmith is an account executive working on youth sales with the Dynamo. As someone who grew up loving soccer, working for the MLS team is a dream come true.
“My job is as an account executive for youth sales,” said Goldsmith, who graduated from Lynn University in Florida. “There are three people in our department and we are always working with the youth soccer community in Houston with both the Dynamo and the Dash, which is the women’s team in the National Women’s Soccer League. We work with things happening on their turf and then them coming here to a game.”
While at Princeton High, Goldsmith was passionate about the sports teams at his high school. He could often be found photographing teams at not only PHS, but Princeton University as well.
“I interned with John Miranda at Princeton when he was the athletic director and that really took off as far as my passion to work on the business side of sports,” Goldsmith said. “Ever since we moved back to Princeton in the third grade it always was a passion of mine attending PU games and playing in local leagues. I’ve always had a passion for that. I helped with some of the leagues at Princeton Recreation.”
After graduating from college, Goldsmith worked in baseball with the Minor League Ohio Mahoney Valley Scrappers, as well as at Rutgers University, the Princeton YMCA and the Bethlehem Steel FC in the United Soccer League. It was while working for the Steel that he landed his latest job in Houston.
“The Philadelphia Union made the US Open Cup final and the Steel are owned by the Union and few of us went out to help,” Goldsmith said. “I wound up talking with Jay Adelberg, who is the Manager of Youth Sales with the Dynamo, he said he thought I would do well with their department and wanted to interview me for a job.”
Goldsmith has been with the Dynamo since last year and loves his job and his new hometown.
“I can see myself doing this for a few years,” he said. “I love Major League Soccer and this is a fantastic organization. They have given me the tools to be successful and maybe in three to five years I could make a move up to management. Everyone here is great. We have a new President (John Walker) and a new Chief Revenue Officer (Dionna Widder) and I am learning a lot about what they do as an organization.”
Goldsmith works under Adelberg and Matthew Menard and has gained a huge amount of experience since joining the club.
“During games I am pretty busy checking in on groups,” he said. “We do a lot of pregame experience to make sure everyone is ready to go and checked in. We’re also dealing with anything they might need and we’re meeting up with buyers who may want to upgrade their seat location. There isn’t a lot a lot of time to actually watch the game.
“Part of my job is also working with the youth soccer community and sometimes we get the players to do event with us. The interaction I have had with some of the players has been great. They are so humble and nice to work with.”
The Dynamo are currently in third place in the Western Conference of MLS. The team hosted a matchup between the United States National Team and Chile on Tuesday that ended in a 1-1 draw.
“The team is off to its best start in team history and it has been exciting,” Goldsmith said. “And it’s fun to be involved with things like the US-Chile match.”
For Goldsmith, it was just another great experience in what has become a great overall experience as he lives his dream working in sports.