Has the athlete-turned-media-mogul career path peaked?
For several of this century's highest-profile athletes, "media mogul" was the next logical career step. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Peyton Manning have all founded or co-founded media production companies, to varying degrees of success.
The SpringHill Company, which James co-founded with Maverick Carter, is now reportedly merging with UK-based Fulwell 73, which produces the Grammy Awards, concert specials, The Kardashians, and the ESPN docuseries Clutch: The NBA Playoffs. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the merger is expected to officially close in Q4 of this year.
Interpreting news of the merger in any broader context is difficult. James, Durant, Curry and Manning all achieved a degree of crossover fame that few of their peers could dream on. The road that paved their path into popular media is available to only a handful of athletes.
Could that road be narrowing even further for the next generation of athletes who would like to follow the same path?
Speaking on The Varsity podcast with Puck's John Ourand, Sarah Fischer of Axios suggested a trend line is emerging among investments in sports and sports-adjacent production companies.
"A few years ago during the streaming boom, sports production companies were so hot," Fischer said. "The streaming bubble has burst for everybody. It's not burst as much for sports because sports is a growing asset class. There's still a lot of consumer interest in live sports, but it's being tempered. You're seeing these companies hit growth ceilings. That's why they're exploring deals, they're exploring MMA. For SpringHill, this gives them more of a global footprint.
"I think this is a survival tactic."
Fischer went on to suggest that it's a difficult-but-not-impossible time for new entrants creating streaming content to achieve financial success. Even compared to firms that launched only three or four years ago, the game has changed.
"In 2021," she said, "the distributors were desperate for sports docs and sports series."
The role of athletes-as-content-creators has empowered the NBA, NFL and other leagues to profit wildly from television contracts, treating games as "inventory." Only more recently did a handful of athletes use their fame to enrich themselves in the media space, without the league serving as a middleman.
Ironically, as leagues struggle to navigate a growth-stifling media landscape, the most entrepreneurial athletes are now tasked with solving a similar challenge for their own brands.
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