{"id":21523,"date":"2025-04-28T14:35:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T14:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/inside-the-mad-dash-to-turn-division-i-athletes-into-influencers\/"},"modified":"2025-04-28T14:35:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T14:35:21","slug":"inside-the-mad-dash-to-turn-division-i-athletes-into-influencers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/inside-the-mad-dash-to-turn-division-i-athletes-into-influencers\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside The Mad Dash to Turn Division I Athletes Into Influencers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On a February afternoon at the University of North Carolina, a group of seven students on the diving team sat barefoot on the floor of the college\u2019s muggy natatorium. They were staring expectantly at a petite blond woman in a black sweater perched on a concrete block.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Vickie Segar was there, with the blessing of the university\u2019s athletic department, to pitch them on turning their TikTok and Instagram accounts into cash cows.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cLet\u2019s talk about the money in the creator economy,\u201d said Ms. Segar, after explaining that she was a graduate of the university who had run a top influencer marketing agency for a dozen years. \u201cDoes anybody follow Alix Earle?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The students said yes, amid several chuckles, because asking a college student that question in 2025 is like asking if a millennial has ever heard of Beyonc\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">How much money, she continued, did they think that Ms. Earle, a TikTok megastar who rose to fame with confessional-style videos about beauty and college life, makes for promoting a brand across several posts on Instagram Stories? \u201c$100,000?\u201d one student guessed. \u201c$70,000,\u201d another tossed out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Segar, whose firm has worked with Ms. Earle on brand deals, paused. She drew out her response: \u201c$450,000 per Instagram Story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For a moment, there was just the hum of the pool and a single exclamation from one student: \u201cOh. My. God.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Segar smiled and explained, \u201cOur job is to help you guys bring in some of that money.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">U.N.C. doesn\u2019t have a formal contract with Ms. Segar or her firm, Article 41. But the school has encouraged students and coaches to work with them. Later this year, the firm\u2019s pitch will also be a part of orientation for freshman athletes at the school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Welcome to the budding business of turning college athletes into social media stars. The world of intercollegiate sports has been upended in recent years by the National Collegiate Athletic Association\u2019s rules that allow student-athletes to make money from their name, image and likeness \u2014 known as N.I.L. For the most part, it was viewed as a change that would reward stars in college basketball and football.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, Chapel Hill is at the forefront of the next stage of the N.I.L. era. The school is supporting Ms. Segar in her effort, which began last fall, to turn all 850 of its student-athletes into influencers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The school doesn\u2019t get a cut of their earnings. But \u201cthey want every athlete at the school to make as much money as possible because it will get better athletes,\u201d Ms. Segar said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This hoped-for, large-scale conversion of college athletes to influencers shows how N.I.L. deals \u201chave grown exponentially in ways that nobody could have imagined or predicted,\u201d said Michael H. LeRoy, a law professor at the University of Illinois. \u201cThis is another milestone in how this is evolving.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And while many students are eager to make some extra cash, the efforts are alarming to some. \u201cThis saddens me,\u201d Mr. LeRoy said. \u201cTheir bodies are being monetized on TikTok for the benefit of the school.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-1u37br4 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-796ee838\">A Gold Rush<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The new N.I.L. rules have already minted a few unexpected stars in the last few years. There\u2019s Olivia Dunne, the 22-year-old Louisiana State gymnast, who <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/11\/08\/sports\/ncaabasketball\/olivia-dunne-haley-jones-endorsements.html\" title=\"\">can now command<\/a> hundreds of thousands of dollars for an advertorial TikTok post. And Haley and Hanna Cavinder, 24-year-old twins, who <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/3779314\/2022\/11\/10\/cavinder-twins-miami-nil\/\" title=\"\">made N.I.L. deals<\/a> valued at more than $1.5 million, according to Forbes, while playing basketball at the University of Miami. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Segar, 42, who graduated from North Carolina in 2005 and lives in Chapel Hill, believes those players are just the start. Uber, Athleta and State Farm are among companies that have already paid for posts that feature student-athletes showing off their game-day looks or routines. Only a few students will hit big numbers, but Ms. Segar reasons that many could eventually make at least a few thousand dollars per branded TikTok or Instagram post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Article 41, which Ms. Segar founded in 2024 with her husband, Ben Gildin, a lawyer and former lacrosse player at Kenyon College, will take a 20 percent cut of the deals, which is typical among influencer management firms. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Other companies, including traditional Hollywood agencies and boutique firms, have been pouncing on N.I.L. influencer opportunities, too. Those efforts have largely been focused on top talent in basketball and football who might one day play professionally. Creative Artists Agency, one of Hollywood\u2019s powerhouse firms, says it has worked with nearly 100 athletes on N.I.L. deals since 2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">ESM, a sports management firm that historically worked with N.F.L. players, now represents a roster of current and former student-athletes, including the Cavinder twins, and is helping Clemson start an in-house agency. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Ms. Segar\u2019s firm is unique, so far, in its belief that every athlete \u2014 benchwarmer or not \u2014 can have a following.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-1u37br4 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-29852555\">\u2018The Lion\u2019s Share of the Money\u2019<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Bubba Cunningham, the U.N.C. athletic director, works out of an office next door to the Dean E. Smith Center, where its famed men\u2019s basketball team plays. From there, he oversees 28 varsity teams, many of them elite, like women\u2019s soccer and field hockey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Cunningham, whose given name is Lawrence, has been the college\u2019s athletic director for more than a decade, which means he has watched the full-scale erosion of the long-held bargain between athletes and their universities: a free education in exchange for their on-field prowess. That meant, officially at least, no advertisements, gifts or cuts of merchandise sold by schools, even jerseys with their name on the back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That model has all but imploded in recent years amid a series of antitrust cases. Based on the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6113424\/2025\/02\/04\/ncaa-settlement-house-revenue-sharing\/\" title=\"\">preliminary terms<\/a> of a landmark settlement, schools like U.N.C. will offer student-athletes two potential forms of compensation beyond scholarships in the 2025-26 school year. The school is likely to have $20.5 million \u2014 calculated by taking 22 percent of the most recent annual revenue from four major college sports divisions generated from media and sponsorship rights and ticket sales \u2014 to pay athletes directly, through a revenue-sharing agreement. The settlement would resolve several antitrust lawsuits filed against the N.C.A.A. and the biggest conferences by former college athletes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At U.N.C., that $20.5 million will go to men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball, football and baseball, according to Mr. Cunningham. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6159981\/2025\/02\/25\/college-football-revenue-sharing-georgia-sec\/\" title=\"\">Many other schools<\/a> are doing similar splits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSince this is about the commercial value of the sport, we\u2019re going to attribute the money to the sport that earned it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Making an arrangement with a firm like Ms. Segar\u2019s offers him a solution for everyone else \u2014 especially female athletes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe most popular player on the most popular team is what I\u2019ve always said will get the lion\u2019s share of the money,\u201d Mr. Cunningham said. \u201cBut the most entrepreneurial student that understands social media and understands how to create a social media presence can become an influencer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Bella Miller, a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@bellamiller__?lang=en\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">22-year-old gymnast<\/a> at U.N.C. with more than 27,000 followers on TikTok, said she wasn\u2019t sure sports like hers would ever benefit from N.I.L., with so few athletes eventually competing professionally. Despite the success of someone like Ms. Dunne, most brands and agents \u201cdon\u2019t want to focus their time and energy on sports like gymnastics, volleyball, swimming because they didn\u2019t really see that potential,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-1u37br4 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-45e15826\">The \u2018Cringe-y\u2019 Hump<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Article 41\u2019s pitch about becoming an influencer \u2014 complete with a 50-page training guide with tips like \u201cno, you don\u2019t have to dance\u201d and \u201ctreat each TikTok as a bite-sized lesson\u201d \u2014 is aimed at members of a cohort who have, in some cases, been using social media since before they were teenagers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For many, the notion of becoming a creator is appealing. In a 2023 Morning Consult survey, three in five members of Generation Z said they would become influencers if given the opportunity. (And many of them might have the opportunity. There are 27 million paid creators in the United States, and 44 percent of them are doing it full time, according to a 2023 survey from the Keller Advisory Group, a consultancy.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Alyssa Ustby, 23, a star player on the women\u2019s basketball team, who is bespectacled and earnest off the court, is among the highest-paid U.N.C. student-athletes when it comes to N.I.L. deals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She said she had around 1,000 Instagram followers before college: She\u2019d post photos of friends, or senior prom. But when she entered U.N.C. in 2020, TikTok was ubiquitous.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI was like, \u2018OK, what\u2019s the worst that could happen \u2014 that I stay where I am?\u2019\u201d Ms. Ustby said. She quickly became a hit with a TikTok series that showed her training with other U.N.C. athletes, poking fun at her form as she <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@alyssaustby\/video\/7141003558173887786?lang=en\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">tried<\/a> to do laps with the swim team and trying to catch a ball with the women\u2019s lacrosse team.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-13\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, she has 132,000 followers on TikTok and 54,000 on Instagram and commands between $10,000 and $15,000 for branded posts. Sponsors have included Papa John\u2019s (\u201cWhere\u2019s the best place to eat an epic stuffed crust pizza?\u201d she <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@alyssaustby\/video\/7482912598099381535?lang=en\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">asks<\/a>, eating one as a study snack and in the gym in a TikTok ad) and American Eagle Outfitters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Ustby, who majored in advertising and public relations (and just signed a free-agent contract with the W.N.B.A.\u2019s Los Angeles Sparks), said she saw her experience building a TikTok audience as akin to an internship. She earned more than $100,000 through brand deals last year and tracked them on a spreadsheet that is also monitored by her father, a wealth manager.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-14\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jake Dailey, a 19-year-old freshman wrestler from Scranton, Pa., with moppy hair and a big smile, said that he was probably 10 years old when he started using social media. He started posting silly jokes and wrestling videos to TikTok as a high school freshman in 2021, which his mother encouraged, even though it earned some derision from his peers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI would say, yeah, it\u2019s cringe-y,\u201d but \u201cit\u2019s definitely going to pay off in the long run for me,\u201d he said. Mr. Dailey said he had scored free products and a recent paid deal with an apparel company called the Mutt Dog.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-15\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many of Mr. Dailey\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@jakeydail\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">posts<\/a> depict him shirtless, pointing his phone camera at himself in the mirror or flexing. In his view, physique is part of why student-athletes play well on social media. \u201cYoung, fit, attractive people definitely come from athletics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Dailey, who has 90,000 TikTok followers and 32,000 on Instagram, said he would be thrilled to become a full-time influencer. Otherwise, he plans to become a dentist.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-1u37br4 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-35b741e5\">The Thirst Trap Strategy<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Bodies are, inevitably, part of what\u2019s on display. When Ms. Segar and Mr. Gildin spoke to U.N.C.\u2019s divers, they urged them to highlight their physical abilities. \u201cI put diving at the top with gymnastics\u201d with tricks that regular people can\u2019t do, Ms. Segar told the group, using an expletive for emphasis. (She said she intentionally peppers her talks with curse words to put the students at ease.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Women are often the audience that brands are trying to reach on TikTok and Instagram, and they\u2019re more likely to post as creators on the platforms, Ms. Segar said. The success of athletes like Ms. Dunne and the Cavinder twins sometimes attracts a line of criticism about how much their looks matter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-16\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Segar admitted that athlete-influencers in the very top tier are more likely to be conventionally attractive, but pushed back on the idea that the student-athletes she is pitching need to adopt what she called Mr. Dailey\u2019s \u201cthirst trap strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A breakout star probably has \u201csomething really special about them \u2014 they are either a top athlete or they are really beautiful or they are incredibly funny,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t need people to get eight million followers. We need them to get to 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 followers \u2014 that is where we start seeing revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Segar acknowledged that race can play a role in determining which athletes gain bigger social media followings, outside of sports like basketball and football. But she said she believed that was changing with the younger generation. And, she added, \u201cthere is more money going to diverse creators in the N.I.L. space than there is in the traditional influencer space that I\u2019ve worked in for over a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. LeRoy, the Illinois law professor, said he was concerned about the mental health ramifications as more athletes pushed to have big presences on social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-17\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Ustby, the basketball player, said a friend on the team who started building up her TikTok presence at the same time as her didn\u2019t enjoy the same success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cShe was constantly putting in all this effort, making videos, and they would just never go viral,\u201d she said. \u201cShe said it literally just felt like a popularity contest she was losing, and it sucks, and that was a really strenuous thing on our friendship because my stuff was kind of taking off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. LeRoy said that it was worth remembering that \u201cthese are undergrads, many of whom are teenagers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf part of your N.I.L. strategy as a school is to increase your student-athlete exposure to the social media ecosystem that is filled with irrationality and hate, you\u2019re not helping the mental health of the athletes,\u201d Mr. LeRoy said. \u201cThis is not a good atmosphere for them to be competing at a high level and then also competing in the social media sphere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mark Gangloff, U.N.C.\u2019s head coach of swimming and diving, said he was keeping an eye on how influencing fit into athletes\u2019 \u201cvery full plates.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-18\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThat is my only caution \u2014 how much is too many things for any one person to try and take on at one time?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">(Article 41 and U.N.C.\u2019s coaches have emphasized that the effort is entirely voluntary and that many student-athletes have opted to keep their social media profiles private.)<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-1u37br4 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-7d6e9696\">Top of the Algorithm<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-19\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Segar and Mr. Gildin are self-funding Article 41, which has 13 full-time employees and 24 paid interns. (She sold her influencer agency, Village Marketing, to the ad giant WPP in 2022.) The couple are prepared to invest several million dollars into the firm, which they say has helped launch social profiles for more than 70 students and coaches who have signed agreements with the firm.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Article 41 is fielding requests for similar work from other colleges like the University of Michigan. It plans to seek compensation for its services from other institutions, though it is not asking for money from U.N.C., where Ms. Segar and Mr. Gildin are donors and Ms. Segar sits on a board for its athletic booster club.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-20\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The firm is intervening when brands send free products to athletes and insisting that they are paid for posting about them. It\u2019s also trying to sweeten existing equipment deals between brands and teams by adding promises of social media posts to their deals to help teams earn revenue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Athleta is among the brands that have already struck paid deals with Ryleigh Heck, a field hockey player, and Ms. Miller, the gymnast, but it does not officially outfit U.N.C. athletes otherwise. Michelle Goad, Athleta\u2019s chief digital officer, said it was testing ads with the students in part to help \u201cbuild a bridge to our next generation of consumers,\u201d and to see if the exposure could eventually exceed that of traditional college sponsorships.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-21\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Anna Frey, a 17-year-old tennis star from Farmington, Utah, will be one of the biggest athlete-influencers on campus when she starts her freshman year at U.N.C. this fall, with 2.1 million TikTok followers who watch posts of her <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@annafrey\/video\/7485948645716593962?lang=en\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">serving<\/a> tennis balls, performing <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@annafrey?lang=en\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">dances<\/a> to popular TikTok sounds and going to school dances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Her father, Tanner Frey, said there were some serious cons to that sort of presence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI feel like 90 percent of people are so nice in the comments and 5 percent are mean and 5 percent are perverts,\u201d he said in an interview. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-22\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Frey said he had made a block list of \u201cabout probably 30 words\u201d that Instagram and TikTok could use to censor offensive comments on his daughter\u2019s posts. He said the \u201cmeanest, nastiest\u201d comments came from gamblers who would berate his daughter in the comments if she lost a match.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, he said it was \u201cthe best time ever in the history of the world to be a female athlete,\u201d in part because of the opportunities tied to brand deals and the new N.C.A.A. rules for payments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFour years ago, none of this was even possible,\u201d he said. \u201cIf Anna wanted to go play college tennis, she\u2019d have to make a really hard decision between that and accepting half a million dollars a year from these brands and going pro.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He added, \u201cIt\u2019s nice they can go and do both now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Audio produced by <!-- -->Sarah Diamond<!-- -->.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/27\/business\/unc-student-athlete-influencers.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a February afternoon at the University of North Carolina, a group of seven students on the diving team sat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2564,6470,4748,118,6469,5155],"class_list":["post-21523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-audio-neutral-informative","tag-chapel-hill-nc","tag-college-athletics","tag-social-media","tag-student-athlete-compensation","tag-university-of-north-carolina"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Inside The Mad Dash to Turn Division I Athletes Into Influencers - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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