LSU gymnastics star Olivia ‘Livvy‘ Dunne has been named the most marketable star in college sports, narrowly edging out Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Sheduer Sanders, the son of NFL Hall of Famer (and Colorado coach) Deion Sanders.
A recent study conducted by the Action Network took into account various aspects of an athlete’s marketability – including NIL valuation, social media presence, audience engagement, and interest and likability – to create an index and ranking.
While Sanders bests Dunne in NIL valuation, the blonde bombshell gymnast tops him on social media presence and audience.
It’s not hard to see why if you take a quick perusal of Dunne’s social media, where she shares items like her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoots:
“Dunne has by far the largest number of followers across her social media channels – a mighty 5.3m (on Instagram) and counting. She also boasts a quality audience of over 4m+ followers and has a low suspicious follower percentage of 6%,” the sports betting news site reports.
“Add to this a NIL valuation of $3.9m, the second highest out of the top five athletes, and it’s no wonder Livvy placed first.”
The top 5 rankings for America’s most marketable college stars are:
- Livvy Dunne
- Shedeur Sanders
- Travis Hunter
- Paige Bueckers
- Arch Manning
Interestingly, both Sanders and Hunter play for the Colorado Buffaloes, who aren’t very good.
Livvy Dunne Reveals ‘Frustrating’ Part Of Being America’s Most Marketable College Star
The category in which Livvy Dunne scored the worst was “interest and likability” and I’m not even vaguely sure how that’s possible. What’s not to like?
At least we’re not guilty of ignoring her here at Bounding Into Sports.
“Despite Dunne only having 1,112 news articles written about her over the last 12 months (the lowest out of the top five athletes), she receives the highest Marketability Index Score of 61.9 out of 100,” Action Network writes.
We’re personally responsible for at least a few of those. You’re welcome, Liv! (Send autographs??)
Despite being America’s most marketable college star, Livvy recently pointed to a “frustrating” aspect of all the social media fame.
“It definitely is frustrating at times,” she told Flaunt Magazine. “The worst part is that people think gymnastics is easy when it’s not. The job is to make it look beautiful and easy. You’re not doing it right if it looks hard.”
“The social media aspect of it — I worked really hard to get to where I am in building my personal brand, and it didn’t happen in the blink of an eye.”
Capitalizing On A Fifth Season
Dunne has nearly tripled her NIL earnings after announcing she was returning to school for a fifth year of eligibility. A New York Post report last month described Dunne as a “$9.5 million NIL legend”.
Amid the Tigers’ championship run last season, Dunne became one of the most influential college athletes through the NCAA’s NIL program. But most valuations had placed her at a little over $3 million.
Now the Post writes, “Since 2021, when NIL guidelines changed, Dunne has made an estimated $9.5 million.”
If thats report is accurate, then her score on the list of America’s most marketable stars may have to be updated. Dunne might actually have a stronger number.
The latest report also indicates she’s making a staggering $125,000 per social media post that endorses a product. That’s just on average.
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