Exposure, popularity and stars. Is college softball on the brink of a breakthrough?

Thus, as the cable-tv-dominated status quo crumbles, pro sports will develop a new playbook, centered around better telling player stories. Players will also have more opportunity to tell and sell these stories themselves, direct-to-consumer:

Yet her stellar performance shows that Emma Navarro is by no means intimidated by the shimmering status of Wimbledon’s wealthiest fans: the tennis phenom is, after all, a scion of one of America’s richest families, and worth more than Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal combined. Her father, Ben Navarro, is the billionaire businessman b... See more

One example: the NCAA just changed its likeness rules, meaning that athletes can now earn income as creators. Big-name college stars—many with hundreds of thousands or even millions of fans—can earn income through YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Patreon, and other platforms.