From New York Tech to the Global Stage of Women’s Soccer

The numbers are staggering for a sport that not long ago was an afterthought: By 2030, women’s soccer is projected to become the world’s fifth-largest athletic draw, with an audience that Nielsen Sports says could exceed 800 million fans.

A pair of soccer-loving New York Tech alumni are doing their part to make sure that athletes share in the prosperity. In 2014, Oscar González (B.S. ’10) and Guillermo Zamarripa (B.S. ’09) took a chance and launched TMJ—short for The Marketing Jersey—one of the world’s first agencies to represent professional female soccer players in contract negotiations.

“There was no system at the time,” says González, born in Madrid and based in Córdoba, Spain. “There were no professional leagues in most countries, no agents, and no structure. There was no money, so there was no reason for anyone to be there.”

But the entrepreneurial friends, who met as players on the New York Tech soccer team—González played center midfielder, while Zamarripa was a forward—had instincts that transcended the playing field . It was as business administration majors that they developed a consultancy that helped male and female international students, many of them athletes like themselves, navigate the college admissions process. The work was not done in conjunction with New York Tech. The men’s ambitions were fueled largely by necessity. Scholarships, after all, didn’t subsidize flights home.

“We knew we wanted to build something,” recalls Zamarripa, a native of Mexico who now calls Fort Worth, Texas, home. “We didn’t know it would end up being TMJ.”

The firm turned out to be a natural extension of the men’s initial venture. Student-athletes asked an unexpected question: What happens after college? Professional soccer opportunities for women were scarce. In most countries, they were nonexistent. Still, players wanted to test the sports job market. It was González and Zamarripa who would represent them.

“We said, ‘OK, we’ll help you take the next step,’” Zamarripa says.

But those early days were uncertain. For seven years, the men worked side jobs. There were times when they considered quitting, despite holding fast to their belief that women’s soccer would eventually explode internationally.

González and Zamarripa leaned on their New York Tech experiences and successes, both on and off the field. González was a 2007 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division II All-Northeast honoree and a 2008 East Coast Conference All-Conference First Team member. Zamarripa is a former member of the School of Management Dean’s Advisory Board.

González credits New York Tech with putting him in the right place at the right time. “Just having the opportunity to be in the United States and explore and live that experience was inspiring to me,” he says.

Zamarripa says he gained valuable business experience taking part in the Broadridge Challenge, in which executives at the financial services firm give students business problems over which they compete for cash prizes.

Meantime, the women’s soccer landscape began to shift slowly. Fueled in part by increased professionalism, more financial investment, and wider media coverage, women’s soccer set a record in 2023, when nearly two million fans attended that year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup. That same year, there was a more than 100 percent increase in commercial partnerships, according to the marketing firm For Soccer.

“We’re now in a very good position,” says González, noting that the business continues to work solely with female athletes. “There’s still so much to build—transfers, sponsorships, marketing, consulting. We want to keep doing this well.”

TMJ has negotiated more than 1,000 player, coach, and staff contracts, including providing intermediary services for a record-setting $1.5 million transfer fee for Mexican superstar Lizbeth Ovalle, popularly known as “La Maga,” (with her agency 235 Sports Management), to relocate from Tigres Femenil of Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil to Orlando Pride of America’s top-caliber National Women’s Soccer League.

González notes that his work extends far beyond contract negotiations. An agent’s role, he says, is part strategist, part manager, part support system. TMJ tracks player performance, monitors injuries, manages commercial opportunities, and maintains regular contact with clients spread across multiple time zones.

“It’s about looking after the person, not just the player,” he says.

Despite opportunities to expand into men’s sports or other ventures, TMJ is remaining wholly focused on women’s football. The reasoning is simple: The market is still developing, and the potential remains enormous.

Today, the firm represents around 150 players, coaches, and staff worldwide. They represent five continents and six soccer confederations. TMJ has more than 30 employees in Europe and the Americas.

Women’s soccer continues to surge in popularity, investment, and visibility. Professional leagues have expanded, salaries have improved, and sponsorships and media rights have begun to catch up with long-standing demand.

“It’s night and day,” Zamarripa says. “Back then, there were very few clubs, very little money, almost no infrastructure. Now, there’s growth everywhere.”

By Andrew Faught