The Rise of Athlete-led Sports Media, and What It Means for Rights Holders

The 2026 NBA draft, which took place in late June, was lauded for its high-end talent. The top four picks, AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cam Boozer and Caleb Wilson, are all expected to be among the future faces of the league. And now, thanks to PLYRS UNTD, a consumer-facing brand launched by the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) the day before the draft, they can also become the faces of a player-owned business. 

PLYRS UNTD is meant to transform the collective influence of NBA players into products, partnerships, and other monetization opportunities. “Consumers do not know our brand, but consumers obviously know our guys, and our guys, probably more so than any other sport, represent culture in a different kind of way,” said David Kelly, the NBPA’s executive director. “It just makes sense to have a brand that is known by consumers.”

To spread the word among customers, PLYRS UNTD will initially focus on events and content. On the content front, the NBPA already partnered with Enjoy Basketball, the digital media and lifestyle company co-founded by YouTube creator Kenny Beecham. As part of the partnership, the companies will jointly produce and distribute original content that brings players’ viewpoints on basketball topics to the forefront and spotlights their off-court interests.

The NBPA’s move comes on the heels of the National Hockey League Players’ Association launching a newly structured commercial business – the NHLPA Player Collective. One of the main objectives of the Player Collective, according to the NHLPA, is to drive “helmet-off” awareness through storytelling to help players grow audiences and deepen engagement across platforms. 

The Creator Generation

The timing of the NHLPA and NBPA is not a coincidence. In recent years, fan loyalty has been slowly shifting from teams to players, especially among younger generations.

The switch reflects a change in media consumption. “Fans increasingly spend more time with creator-led content, and there’s a clear appetite for deeper access and authenticity,” said Seb Losardo, founder and managing director of digital media consultancy Grow, which specializes in growing YouTube channels. “Players are more aware of the opportunity than ever before.” 

As a result, players are increasingly becoming content creators themselves. Three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray, for example, is the latest high-profile athlete to launch his own YouTube channel, joining the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland, Ella Toone, Aryna Sabalenka, Sabrina Ionescu, Stephen Curry, Jannik Sinner, Lando Norris, Bryson DeChambeau, and others. 

These athletes use video content to share insights into their lives via vlogs, training sessions, and personality-driven stories. The subscriber numbers, especially of the biggest stars, are impressive. Ronaldo, who’s on a tier of his own, has more than 81 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, but DeChambeau (2.8 million), Curry (2.12 million), and Haaland (2 million) are also boasting audiences that most sports properties would envy.

“With more audiences than ever watching YouTube, and more individual personality-led channels taking share of viewership in Sport – the stage is truly set for athletes to shine,” said Robbie Spargo, co-managing director at digital content agency Little Dot Studios. “We can almost certainly expect athlete channels to start hosting live rights or being granted the type of access and footage that was previously reserved for broadcast partners.”

A New Distribution Model

Some athlete channels are already doing that. Last year, Ronaldo’s YouTube channel provided live coverage of the semi-finals and finals of the Riyadh Season Premier Padel P1 in more than 130 countries. The Portuguese star’s live stream complemented telecasts by Premier Padel’s existing broadcast partners, in a move that the pro tour hailed as a “historic moment” for the sport.

Murray’s channel, called ‘The Set,’ will have access to archive footage from LTA (the national governing body of tennis in the UK), ATP Media, and The All England Lawn Tennis Club, which organizes Wimbledon. At Wimbledon, Murray will also get behind-the-scenes access to showcase players’ journeys, and the content he and his team produce will be shared with the tournament’s broadcast partners.

Rights holders across the industry have been observing this dynamic closely, and are ready to capitalize on it. “We are well aware that the younger the fan, the more they are into players,” said Ashley Hover, multimedia content manager at the Premier League. “So the mind shift has already happened. We see leagues, clubs, and players alike understanding that this is an ecosystem that is benefiting from working together.”

Scaling Athlete Content

As players build global audiences of their own, rights holders are presented with a unique opportunity: they can extend their reach through content collaborations that benefit both sides. Every match highlight, practice clip, or behind-the-scenes story shared by an athlete can introduce the club, league, or event to additional fans, turning individual influence into collective audience growth.

Scaling those collaborations requires the ability to create player-focused storytelling at the speed fans expect. AI-powered content creation platforms help organizations instantly transform live and archived footage into multi-platform assets that players can publish across their own channels. AJ Dybantsa’s YouTube channel, launched one month before the NBA draft, looks like a pretty good place to start.