Athletes are leaning further into content creation to build a sturdy brand.
While sports is a bridge between athletes and fans, content creation is another avenue that can further enhance the relationship. Now, more and more players are leaning into this in various ways to give fans a closer look into their lifestyles and interest.
At the 2025 NAB Show (National Association of Broadcasters) held in Vegas, NV, PlayersTV Co-Founder Collin Castellaw was among the leaders gathered for a panel titled “Empowering Athletes: The Rise of Player-Owned Media in the NIL Era,” moderated by journalist Chris Smith on Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
PlayersTV
As AFROTECH™ previously told you, PlayersTV, established in 2020, is the first athlete-owned media network and content provider. It is currently backed by players that include Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving, Travis Kelce, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Damian Lillard. The media network currently has nearly 70 professional athletes as owners, investors, content creators, and partners.
“Athletes really wanted to get into content,” Castellaw said on the panel. “They wanted to produce things. They wanted to connect with their fans on a different level, but we saw that kind of the distribution model was broken. You can make a thing, but where’s it going to live? And if you want it to live somewhere, how do you make the thing and finance it at the same time?”
He later added, “Essentially we saw athletes starting their own production companies, and we saw that the distribution model was broken. How come cartoons have Cartoon Network and comedy has Comedy Central. There’s all these other different niche fandoms, and athletes are probably the biggest niche of all. So essentially we really kind of set out to fix that distribution funnel that was kind of clogged, more or less.”
Educating Players On The Nature Of The Game
Athletes onboarding with PlayersTV will also receive education, as Castellaw notes that some may not fully understand the nature of the business. This includes areas like the time commitment required to create a podcast, monetization strategies, and steps toward owning their intellectual property (IP).
“They think ‘OK, I’ll do a podcast deal, $100K or $200K, but I’ve got to dedicate however many weeks it is to this thing,’ and it’s like a huge lift, and all of a sudden it feels like a big deal, but they don’t understand how to monetize on the back end,” Castellaw mentioned. “Our average advertising deal size for 2025 is $1.1 million. So a lot of athletes are like, ‘Hey, cool, I got $100,000,’ but they don’t realize that the media company is selling that on the back end for significant change. Obviously it’s business, everybody’s trying to make money, but they don’t understand that their hard value time is essentially being monetized at the level which it’s being monetized at. So I think that’s been a big piece for us at PlayersTV. How do we get super transparent with No. 1, how does the industry work? No. 2, how can you co-own or own your IP for the long-term vision.”
He also sheds light on several individuals who have a successful blueprint. This includes Mark Burnett, a major Hollywood producer known for works like “Survivor.” Burnett has narrowed down on establishing lesser show concepts that have been monetized in other countries such as Australia and Canada.
“We’ve heard of athletes blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars on series that have no shot of seeing the light of day anywhere or being monetized… My co-founder, Deron [Guidrey], always talks about Mark Burnett…. He’s putting his ideas all over the world, and that’s how athletes need to start thinking about it, too. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Look at what works in different media. And that’s exactly what we want to do.”
As it relates directly to PlayersTV, athletes including Chris Paul, of the Phoenix Suns, are among the more developed in terms of the athlete content lifecycle. Paul shops programs and co-owns a full-service media production company with his brother, CJ, called Ohh Dip!!! Productions. The company is supported by award-winning producers, directors, camera operators, and editors, information on its website reads.
Denver Nuggets player DeAndre Jordan also stepped into the spotlight in a unique way — by niching down into the vegan lifestyle. He starred in a vegan cooking show that aligned perfectly with his commitment to healthy living. The project led to collaborations with other vegan chefs and the release of a downloadable recipe cookbook. Brands such as Bounty scored strategic product placements, and the content resonated with a new audience: middle-aged vegan women who now connected with Jordan on a more personal level.
“They were able to really fall in love with the personality of DeAndre through their shared experience,” Castellaw shared. “It was really, really powerful… It’s not necessarily just like a general connection, but instead a humanistic connection of ‘Hey, we both love the same thing. How does that make us closer?’ We find that the bond strengthened between an athlete and a fan because of that is so much stronger. Now all of a sudden they care how DeAndre Jordan’s team is doing in the playoffs, how he’s playing and all that… It’s really boiling down to the most authentic kind of denominators possible.”
