LSU’s NIL Stars Hit The Amazon Screen

Plus, a love letter to the Chargers TikTok account.

Sports. Culture. Curated Daily.

TikTok is back in the jersey business, this time teaming up with the NHL’s Washington Capitals. Alex Ovechkin, get ready to be very demure, very mindful.

Ja’Marr Chase is a dream cover shoot model. Between Chase, Stefon Diggs, Jalen Hurts, and Lamar Jackson, the NFL is ready for its own Fashion Week show. No one tell Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Seven college kids bought a soccer club for a dollar and helped lead it to four promotions in five years. Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds be warned—the kids are coming for ya.

The newest $200M man in sports is F1 engineer Adrian Newey, who is leaving Red Bull for Aston Martin at the end of the season, and hopefully, taking his very fast car designs with him. Wish we’d known engineering could get you Devin Booker supermax money when deciding on a college major.

Aaron Rodgers is getting the Netflix docuseries treatment, with the streamer also locking in several more sports docs for the near future. Remember when you used to trade DVDs with this company by snail mail? Simpler times.

@atlantafalcons

Oh hey, Teyana Taylor 👋 #teyanataylor #atlanta

Name, Image, and Likeness rights have changed the nature of celebrity amongst college athletes. With some star athletes sporting valuations in the millions, the top of the top of the NIL ladder have the opportunity to set themselves up for life during their time between classes. 

As the new Amazon docuseries “The Money Game,” shows, no school has produced more NIL stars than LSU. The series examines the NIL era through the lens of several athletes, including stars like Jayden Daniels, Angel Reese, Livvy Dunne, and Flau’jae Johnson.

@lsutigers

The game has changed. The Money Game premieres September 10th on @Prime Video #LSU #LSUAthletics #NILSU #themoneygame

Dunne and Reese were early success stories in the NIL world. While many doubters thought that NIL dollars would be reserved solely for the biggest football and men’s basketball programs in the country, Dunne and Reese quickly showed that female athletes were set to cash in as well.

Now the stage is set for more. One-of-a-kind Flau’jae Johnson will be back for another year of LSU basketball, with her profile (and NIL value) only continuing to rise. Her status as a multi-hyphenate gives her All-Star NIL potential.

@flaujaee

👀 #cameoutabeast

It’s not all roses though. As “The Money Game” explores, lesser known athletes chasing NIL dollars have to grind to develop their brands and raise their profiles to a point where they can profit. Meanwhile, the biggest stars like Dunne and Reese face harassment of all kinds.

“The Money Game” premieres today on Prime Video. And yes, the NIL athletes were paid NIL dollars for their participation. Making money while you’re making money is good work if you can get it.

The start of the NFL season means we can finally see what teams can do against each other on the field, but all through the offseason, NFL teams compete on a field that may be even more competitive: TikTok.

For years, the Los Angeles Chargers’ social team has been one of the best in the business, with their anime schedule release videos earning rave reviews. Investing in your social media strategy pays off folks. Look how good this is.

@espn

This is incredible 👏 (via @los angeles chargers) #nfl #football #anime #animeedit #chargers

As social strategies shifted from Twitter (ugh, now X) to TikTok in recent years, the Chargers made the transition seamlessly. Their content regularly catches players adorably off guard, resulting in incredible content.

@chargers

brb scrubbing facebook rn 😂@hawthornfc #prank #nfl #profilepicture #chargers #embarrassing

The Chargers’ earned a chaotic reputation for their infamous P.F. Changs tweet, and the discipline they had to not to hit delete on such an iconic post. While the medium has changed, the Chargers are still full of that same chaotic energy on TikTok.

@chargers

imagine it’s zara larsson #justinherbert #dolphins #symphony #meme

Plenty of NFL teams are doing great work on TikTok—shout out to the Bills and Titans who both also deserve consideration for the top spot. But there’s no one in the business doing it like the Chargers.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us in the first 48 hours of OffBall’s existence. This project was inspired by so many creators building things that are worth bringing attention to independent of what the algorithms demand, and we want to take a moment from time to time to shout out those whose vision has helped shape ours.

We got a lot of welcome messages (thanks again!) and wanted to give a special thank you to Emily Sundberg. We were psyched by her summary of us in her ‘feed me’ newsletter, writing OffBall is “like paying someone to go down into the mines and find the gold, so you don’t have to breathe the fumes yourself.”

There are a lot of different creators that inspired OffBall and we’ve all been reading Emily obsessively. Means a lot to get her call out and we hope everyone subscribes to her newsletter.