stories. With the rise of social media and athlete-driven content platforms, he sees an unprecedented opportunity for players to speak directly to their audiences. Yet as players learn how to tell and maximize their own stories, they have also disrupted the traditional sports media industry — for better or worse. The Rise Of Athlete-Driven New Media For professional athletes, crafting a personal narrative is more important than ever. “It’s now permanent and it is now a necessity,” said Erit Yellen, a USC Annenberg instructor who teaches a course on public relations strategies. “You’re going to start to see athletes not just into running their own media, but starting to understand the power and influence of controlling overall sports content.” Yellen would know: A little more than 15 years ago, she founded one of the first public relations firms targeted specifically to athletes. Using what she calls the actors’ representation model — or a model that includes separate roles for agents, managers, publicists and lawyers — Yellen helped transform several athletes from professional players into full-fledged celebrity brands. But a lot has changed in the decade-plus since then. “We were reliant on working with journalists to tell us what was going on,” Yellen said. “There was no option for athletes to tell their own stories, so we had to be very picky about which journalists we wanted to work with.” Now, athletes can choose to self-publish news on social media sites like Twitter, Instagram or Facebook or to collaborate with websites like The Players’ Tribune, which allows athletes to control their own narratives. The online platforms, Yellen believes, have been a game-changer for sports stars. “Athletes are really starting to play around with how much they can control and change their own personal brands with their own content they’re putting out there,” she said. Brendan Meyer, vice president of digital marketing at the sports talent agency Wasserman, said social channels have opened up new ways for his clients to show fans what they’re interested in — and sometimes, those interests have nothing to do with sports. Case in point: Russell Westbrook, an NBA player with the Oklahoma City Thunder, has harnessed millions of followers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, where he showcases his personality with karaoke sessions in his car, his philanthropic work and his love for fashion. “He’s in Fashion Week in Paris, he’s meeting with designers and sharing the whole experience with his followers. He’s able to show that he’s not only somebody that wears the clothes, but he’s involved in the scene,” said Meyer, who graduated with a bachelor’s in communication in 2007. “Building credibility and authenticity opens up the opportunity for him to launch his own clothing company and write a book about fashion.” With 1.2 million Instagram followers, the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and former USC Trojans football 24
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player JuJu Smith-Schuster is building a strong personal brand outside of football. Last March, Smith-Schuster made a name for himself in the gaming world when he teamed with pro gamer Tyler “Ninja” Bevins to play Fortnite against rappers Drake and Travis Scott. The live-streamed competition got nearly one million views on the streaming service Twitch. “If you take a look at JuJu’s Instagram or any of his social feeds, he’s always posting his brand through these different channels,” said Anthony Borquez, who received his master’s in communication management in 2008 and is on the USC Annenberg Board of Councilors. “He has a unique audience, because he has both gamers and sports fans following him.” “He’s providing another level of engagement for Pittsburgh Steelers fans,” Borquez added. “Maybe not a lot of other Steelers are doing it, but I would think that the Steelers are pretty excited JuJu’s out there, in the off season, having Steelers fans still connected, getting them really excited for the upcoming season.” The History and Evolution of Athlete Brands Athletes using the power of media to shape their own narratives and leverage their celebrity is nothing new. “That’s been the case in the very early days of sports, that certain athletes became heroes, and then with the development of mass media, they also became celebrities,” Carrington said. “There were countless examples throughout history of athletes being exceptional in what they did. They turned themselves into stars.” The late heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali might be the most famous example. “He was very clear in his use of catchphrases and in his use of the spectacle of press conferences and the media to promote not just the fight, but himself,” Carrington said. Ali, whose name change from Cassius Clay reflected his high-profile conversion to Islam, was also a political and social activist who pulled no punches when it came to speaking his mind. It didn’t always help his career. In April 1967, during the Vietnam War, Ali famously refused to be drafted into the military. He cited religious reasons, but he also pointed to political ones, suggesting he didn’t want to fight for a country with a history of violence and discrimination against African-Americans. Ali suffered for it: He was stripped of his crown, convicted of violating Selective Service laws and banned from boxing. “I think during that time there was definitely a large influence of athletes impacting social issues through media,” Yellen said. “And then, unfortunately, because they did not have the economic power that athletes do now, there was a punishing and a lashing out.” It’s the reason why some athletes have historically chosen not to use their platforms for social activism. Yellen cites Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson as influential basketball players who could have spoken out on issues such as mass incarceration and policing of black communities in the 1980s and ’90s, for example, but instead remained silent. They had no shortage of endorsement deals. “If you see that your predecessors were financially punished, it’s best to keep your mouth shut because there’s a lot to be said about economic power,” Yellen said. “Athletes are now financially stable enough to take a risk. The fans are seeing the vulnerability and the transparency of athletes and their impact.” That’s not to say that there still aren’t financial consequences to speaking out — or in some cases, kneeling down. In 2016, then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback © Cindy Ord / Stringer / Getty Images