When Olivia (Livvy) Dunne joined TikTok in 2020, she mostly shared gymnastics-related content. Eventually, the Louisiana State University Tigers gymnast broadened her posts to include other areas of her life, including fashion and lifestyle-related photos and videos. By 2023, she was social media’s most-followed NCAA athlete.
Dunne, notes Bryant’s Professional-In-Residence Christian Fauria, is an example of an athlete who has successfully established herself as her own media brand. Amassing eight million TikTok followers and 5.3 million Instagram followers to date, Dunne has leveraged her platform to partner with brands such as Vuori, BodyArmor, and American Eagle Outfitters. Fauria adds that she is also one of the most valuable athletes in the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) marketplace.
Highlighted as one of the 100 most influential voices in Time magazine’s 2025 TIME100 Creators list, Dunne recently signed to be represented and managed by Wasserman. According to a Hollywood Reporter article, the sports marketing and talent management company will look to expand her presence in entertainment, sports, and fashion, while locating new business ventures.
Below, Fauria explores the onset of college athletes becoming their own media brands, the relevancy of traditional sponsorship models, and how top amateur athletes are developing their brands as high schoolers.
Your narrative, your terms
Power and control.
These are the first two words that come to mind for Fauria when thinking about athletes becoming their own media brands.
“You have control of your message, you have the power to release it when you want to, and you're not reliant on anybody — there's no quid pro quo,” says the former NFL tight-end and Super Bowl champion who teaches Bryant’s “Sports Broadcasting and Analysis,” “Organization, Leadership, and Communication in the Sports Industry,” and “Advanced Sports Broadcasting: Road to Radio Row” courses.
Rather than a news outlet or insider releasing information for them, athletes are choosing to share updates directly with their followers — whether it be breaking news regarding a new contract or responding to something someone said about them.
Fauria noticed the beginnings of athlete-driven media following the online launch of The Players’ Tribune, a sports media company, established in 2014, that provides athletes with a platform to connect with their fans, in their own words.
“If somebody got cut or got hurt, athletes would pen an op-ed about what happened,” Fauria says. “And if they want to talk about some scandalous controversy, it was a first-person piece from them. Once technology became bigger, more powerful, and easier to use, athletes really started diving into it. It really began to cut the cord of network television, ESPN advertisers, and insiders.”
Impact of NIL
In addition to the rise of social media, NIL has prompted athletes to become their own media brands.
“The way college sports are, and because NIL exists, high school players are getting monumental offers — either financial gains, marketing gains, or advertising opportunities — and they're getting them when they're sophomores,” Fauria says, noting that it’s normal for athletes develop and launch their personal brand while in high school.
Prior to NIL, college athletes were not allowed to make deals to profit from their fame. When the NCAA updated its policies in 2021, the narrative shifted: student-athletes were now able to make financial gains off endorsements and partnerships. Additionally, institutions had permission to ‘woo’ top-performing high school athletes to their institution and sports teams, though Fauria notes that this last update raises questions about fairness and competition among programs since some places can pay their way to the best players.
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NIL amounts that college athletes earn can depend on an athlete’s sport, school, and popularity. For instance, football and basketball tend to have higher percentages of deals, and self-reported 2025 NCAA data shows, to date, that football has received 41.8 percent of deals and men’s basketball has received 9.8 percent of deals. Additionally, the median total athlete earnings to date for 2025 are $700, and the average total athlete earnings to date for 2025 are $21,583. According to research from Dataintelo, the NIL platform market size is anticipated to reach a value of $10.63 billion by 2033.
“For me, it's the wild west. Institutions are still trying to figure it out, and it changes almost daily — not only because of public consumption, but the rules and regulations that are being set forth by the NCAA and how they're trying to get control of it. Everybody has their hands in the pot, and it's remarkable how difficult it is to keep up with,” Fauria says.
At Bryant, the athletic department’s relationship with Opendorse — an athlete marketplace and NIL technology company — is designed to give student-athletes NIL third party opportunities and is committed to staying competitive in the marketplace, in particular the America East and CAA conferences.
Sponsorship, representation changes
Fauria explains that NIL is changing the sports world. Sponsorships used to solely be for pro-athletes and were nonexistent on the college level. Additionally, agents have since shifted from representing players to representing NIL.
“Traditionally, a company would contact you and say, you've got a big name, a lot of eyeballs. We're going to give you ‘x’ amount of dollars to do this. Now there's so many ways you can get sponsorship,” Fauria says, noting that it could be a company like Nike or Gatorade.
He shares that agents now find clients advertising and merchandising deals and get a cut of the work they do for the athlete’s brand; this process is only going to get more detailed over time, says Fauria. In addition to top-performing athletes landing partnership deals, he notes that athletes don’t need to be the best of the best to create their own media brand and obtain partnership opportunities.
“Let's say, you're not even any good, but if you build a following, companies will look at your followers, your analytics, and seek you out,” he says.
Changing the game
According to Sports Illustrated, football quarterback Arch Manning is the number one top earning college athlete for 2025-26 with an estimated NIL valuation of $6.8 million. Following him are football players Carson Beck at $4.3 million and Jeremiah Smith at $4.2 million. In addition to Livvy Dunne, the Cavinder twins — whose TikTok fame and basketball skills have brought them into the limelight — were some of the first athletes to benefit from NIL following the NCAA’s policy update. The Miami Hurricanes players helped lead their team to the NCAA’s Elite Eight during the 2022-23 season, and the sisters have gone on to land deals with Under Armour, Slate Milk, and Crocs.
As technology evolves, NIL regulations shift, and college athletes find additional avenues off the field and court to promote their brand, one thing is clear: they aren’t just playing the game — they’re transforming it.
“NIL isn’t just changing college sports — it’s a runaway freight train with no brakes, no conductor, and a full head of steam. You can scream about fairness all you want, but the tracks are laid and the train’s not stopping. My advice? Best buckle up or get off the rails, because this is the new world of college sports,” Fauria says.