Landing a Job in Creator Partnerships with Chad McArthur

Meet Chad McArthur

Chad is the Partnerships Manager - North America for Double Tap, a talent management and creative agency who represents some of the most exciting creators in soccer, headlined by Fabrizio Romano. In his role, Chad is responsible for developing the North American creator roster, sourcing and vetting their brand deal opportunities, and managing campaigns on the ground.

Early Career

What is most surprising to me about Chad’s career is that he never attended college. How do you get so far, so fast, without it???

Chad started developing the skills that would later make him successful within sports as early as high school. He worked part time at Sportchek - the Dick’s Sporting Goods of Canada and had a unique opportunity during his senior year to co-op with a local marketing agency, Giant Shoe. After graduation, and with Covid sabotaging the normal college experience, Chad decided to take a full gap year of working at Sportchek, before he joined Vision Luxx Studios, a local marketing agency founded by a friend from high school. He spent nearly a year supporting them with video production, social media management, and oversaw the production of a podcast. These opportunities laid the ground work for Chad’s expertise within content and marketing.

Now two years out of high school, and with Covid winding down, Chad was preparing to leave his hometown in Canada and head to Florida to attend college. While going through the application process, Chad had reached out to an old club soccer coach who had started a soccer talent agency, F&F Sports, focused on bringing professional Brazilian soccer players to North America. Chad was offered the opportunity to support his coach and the agency on a volunteer basis, doing cold-outreach to executives across MLS, USL and CPL to build relationships and ultimately place players. He was so excited about the opportunity that he withdrew from college before ever stepping foot on campus. Crazy? Yes. But he saw a path, made a plan, and sold himself and his parents on the belief that the experience he would gain would be invaluable for his future career.

Europe and The Insiders Lounge

An important point to note is that through these 3 years post high school, Chad was living with his parents and saving nearly every dollar he made. That discipline allowed him to take the next leap that would define his career journey.

After nearly two years of working with F&F, the lights were fading and Chad realized that his personality might not be the best fit for the industry. He had sat for the licensing exam to officially become an agent but came up a few questions short of passing. Brutal at the time, but ultimately one of his biggest blessings, giving him the push he needed to take the leap and find his passion.

With the money he had been saving, Chad set out on a 6-month trip to Europe with the goal of meeting as many people within the soccer industry as possible. He signed up for the free trial of LinkedIn Premium and messaged dozens of people ahead of time in each city he visited, asking for the opportunity to meet up and hear their story. $25k, 65+ cities, and dozens of conversations later, Chad headed home feeling inspired.. So much so, that even though the funds had run dry, he wanted to continue the conversations he had been having.

Insert “The Insider’s Lounge.” Chad launched the podcast with the goal of having more conversations with soccer industry professionals with the added twist of sharing the value he was gaining with others that were interested in growing their career in the space.

When people think of sports agencies, they often picture player agents negotiating contracts. But agencies like Double Tap operate in an entirely different arena, the creator economy. Instead of representing athletes, they represent the voices shaping how fans experience the sport online.

Creator partnerships sit at the intersection of content, brand strategy, and storytelling. Chad’s role as Partnerships Manager combines both sides of the business. On one hand, he works as an agent, sourcing and negotiating brand deals for Double Tap’s roster of soccer creators. On the other, he acts as a manager, supporting talent with logistics, deliverables, and content execution.

An added bonus of starting the podcast, beyond the conversations Chad was having with his guests, was the social credibility the podcast provided. Chad was able to leverage the platform he was building to gain free access to expensive industry events, including Soccerex, the United Soccer Coaches Convention, and more. His ultimate goal in attending these events was to land a full-time role within the soccer industry.

At one of these events he tracked down Double Tap CEO, Aviv Levy. Chad had previously emailed nearly every employee and was able to retrieve Aviv’s number before the event and sent a message expressing his interest in connecting. However, in Chad’s words, Aviv ignored him for most of the event (Aviv probably tells a different story). On the last day of the event, Chad was determined to have a conversation with Aviv before he left. He found him in a speaker’s lounge, waiting for his flight, and pitched him in person on how Double Tap needed to expand to North America and why he was the man for the job.

The conversation turned into a full-blown interview, which led to conversations with the broader team, and ultimately an offer to head up the North American market.

Now, as the Partnerships Manager - North America, Chad works with Double Tap’s portfolio of North American soccer creators, headlined by talent including Matty FC and Rose Ruland. Chad provides a full service offering for his clients, from sourcing and negotiating to onsite execution and fulfillment.

Q. How have you been able to find success within the sports industry without going to college?

Chad: For some background, my mom went to college and did a teaching degree, while my dad and brother didn’t - so I have some influence from people that I look up to who became successful without a college degree. That was the starting point for it. I think a lot of North American parents will push their kids to pursue college, saying, “No, you need a college degree.” My parents looked at it like, “If you have a plan that works just as well as a college degree, and we think it’s valid, then go for it.”

I would say my strategy for not going to college was to build as much experience as possible. At the end of the day, everyone that comes out of college still says they need to know the right person to get the job. So my thought process was: how can I just get to know as many people as possible where my personality, my expertise, my willingness to learn, and my work ethic could all be shown to someone?

That way, they’d feel, “Okay, this is someone interesting.” Along the way, I built experience in marketing, social media, podcast and video production, sports, relationship building, and talent management. Now when you look at Double Tap, I’m pulling something from every single one of those jobs. Even my minimum wage job at Sportchek - that taught me sales, communication, understanding products and margins. Everything ties together.

All that being said, I would say to someone, if you’re not going to college, make sure you have a plan. Don’t just go out there and think something’s going to happen. It’s not. I was really thoughtful in what I wanted to do, and I had a plan to get there.

Chad: My first step would be to just start somewhere. Find a list of 100 creator agencies - there are so many. Whether they’re in the US or Europe, look up your favorite creators and see what agency manages them. The end of their business email usually gives it away. Then start reaching out.

That’s step one - get in the door. Even if it’s an unpaid internship, start somewhere. Find ways to add value. Is there an area where that agency is weak? For me with Double Tap, they weren’t in North America. That’s where I found I could provide value.

Second, be genuine and honest. It sounds obvious, but this industry is small. Everyone knows everyone. If you’re dishonest once, it can ruin your reputation.

Third, be prepared to work as hard as possible. When I start anywhere new, I ask myself, “How can I make myself irreplaceable?” As an intern, you’re the easiest to let go. So I try to be in every conversation, every email chain, every group chat, and make myself valuable in multiple ways.

Chad: We’re in a day and age where people like Ben Francis, the Gymshark CEO, have built personal brands alongside their companies, and both grow together. The personal brand fuels the company, then the company fuels the personal brand.

Even if Ben sold Gymshark tomorrow, he’d still have a following to launch anything else he wanted to pursue. I’m at a junior stage compared to that, but even in our own company at Double Tap, Aviv, our CEO, has about 150,000 followers on Instagram. Because of that, he can DM literally anyone and they’ll respond. If I did the same, they’d probably never see my message.

So having a personal brand gives you influence and credibility that money can’t buy. My advice for others would be to start now and keep evolving. You’ll go through phases of building your brand and then maybe focusing on your career but having credibility and influence behind your name will always be valuable.

Chad: Step one is to research who’s going. Figure out your goals for being there. For me, I wanted to meet as many people as possible and ideally get a job out of it. But you can’t lead with that - it comes off desperate. Focus on relationship building first.

To find who’s attending, LinkedIn is the best tool. Many event pages show the attendee list, and my strategy was to connect with everyone relevant. I’ll also search on LinkedIn for posts like “I’m attending Soccerex” and connect that way. Sometimes events have internal messaging systems too. I’ll reach out beforehand, even with a simple message like “Hey, I’d love to connect at the event.” That gives you a starting point.

When you’re there, try to have meetings scheduled, but also talk to strangers. That’s where the most unexpected value comes from. You have to break that nervous barrier, which can be hard at first, but it gets easier with every conversation.

People are nicer than you think. Almost everyone is willing to talk - there are very few exceptions. So, plan ahead, know your goal, research who’s going, and just go for it. That’s how you get the most out of those events.

A heartfelt thank you for supporting So You Want to Work in Sports… It means the world to me.

If you have any feedback, a guest recommendation, would like to be featured yourself, or have any questions, please email me at [email protected].

Instagram

LinkedIn

Chad’s favorite podcasts:

-My First Million

-Business of Sport

-Always Be Creating