WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — After a six-season tenure with the Upper Valley Nighthawks, five as a general manager, Matt Wright has decided to move on from his role.
“I think whenever somebody gets into a team like this or a league of this type, it’s never a forever situation,” said Wright, in a phone interview.
“Ultimately, this came down to kind of a life decision,” he added, noting that as a 30-year-old, he is a bit younger than most of the league’s general managers, many of whom are already settled down with families.
“I think for me it was more so just wanting to prioritize those next steps in my own life that are around the corner for me,” Wright, who is engaged and could be relocating after his wedding.
Wright said the team, which played its first season in 2016, was in a good place and that he had checked off a few accomplishments as well. One of those was hosting the NECBL All-Star Game, which the team did last month.
“That was always something I wanted to do personally, just because a lot of the planning falls on this position…that was a fun experience to go through the year-plus amount of time it took to put together and then to see it go through in such a strong way,” said Wright.
Wright said other accomplishments have included better player retention, upgrades to game broadcasts, and an increase in the number and quality of staff members.
The Nighthawks broadcast, which used to be a one-camera operation, has now expanded to six cameras, along with a six-member team. The organization had seven social media interns this summer, which was more than any other team in the league, and the number of overall interns has increased to 28 from five in 2019, according to Wright.
“If you’re going to leave this here, at least leave it in a place where other teams are still chasing you and wanting to be what you are, and we’ve been told by some of the other teams at board meetings and whatnot that they want to emulate what we’re doing,” Wright said.
Noah Crane, Nighthawks president and founder, said that the organization was fortunate to have Wright for as long as it did.
“He was able to do a great deal on the intern and staffing side of things, along with much of the technological improvements that we’ve added over the years,” Crane said
Jacob Anes, who worked for the Nighthawks in 2022 and 2023 and returned to the organization this past season as the assistant general manager, spoke highly of his time with Wright.
“From day one, he made me feel welcome, he let me do other work with the team to kind of grow my own skills, and I couldn’t have asked for a better person to work for, and then eventually work with, as an assistant GM,” Anes said.
Anes said the extent of the organization’s evolution under Wright “was pretty surreal.”
Wright, who lives just south of Concord in Allenstown, N.H., said the demands of a general manager have grown to the point where it could be considered a full-time job.
“This is a year-round task now. It’s not something that is just a few hours a week,” Wright said. “It has just kind of outgrown the bandwidth of what I can offer it as far as what I am doing and how much time I’m able to spend on it,” he added.
In addition to general manager duties, Wright works full time in admissions at Southern New Hampshire University.
While the Nighthawks search to fill Wright’s shoes, Crane said for the role to become full-time, enough revenue has to be generated to support it.
“I do think there is a place for someone who is a little bit more full-time,” Crane said.
The best path forward to increase revenue is to continue to develop sponsorships.
“We’re in a great spot of being self-sufficient and having businesses that want to support us,” Crane said. “It’s not as though we have 12 outfield banners and we need to get 60 of them; we’re pretty full on our sponsorship inventory.”
Crane said that there is no pressure to fill the vacancy immediately and that the organization will consider internal candidates. He also said the biggest thing he is looking for from the next general manager is love for the Upper Valley.
“This is why we’re here. Why we exist is we want to do something that brings people together, and we want to be able to give back,” said Crane.
Wright is not ruling out a return to baseball.
“I love this team and I love my home state of Vermont. Thank you, Upper Valley, for taking me in. I will be forever grateful, and I can’t wait to see what is around the bend,” said Wright, in a statement released by the organization.
