Athletes Are Becoming Media Companies — If Brands Let Them

The Atlanta Dream vets every potential brand partner against three community pillars — growing basketball, empowering girls and women, and equity for all — before any deal moves forward. Shayne Odum, former director of corporate partnerships and sales at the Dream and now director of global partnerships and media sales at the Phoenix Suns, laid out the framework live at Brandweek 2026 on Adweek's Adspeak podcast, hosted by LaTecia Johnson, founder and CEO of Ingenius.

The panel — Odum, Dream forward Naz Hillmon, Reebok senior manager of energy Connor Thompson and Johnson — argued that athletes are now media companies in their own right, and that logo placement alone no longer buys cultural relevance.

What do the three pillars actually filter out?

Brands must demonstrate a genuine connection to at least one pillar before the Dream signs, Odum said. Georgia Power and Cash App passed the test and turned collaborations into multi-year relationships rooted in community impact. The framework exists to block short-term visibility plays that carry no community value.

The caveat: a framework is only as honest as the vetting behind it, and Odum did not detail how a brand's "genuine connection" is measured before signing.

Why do athletes want control of the story?

Hillmon, in her fourth year with the Dream and a University of Michigan graduate, said she will not attach her name to brands that don't reflect her identity. Her content must feel personal rather than scripted — she cites her photography as an example of sharing interests beyond basketball. Marketers, she argues, should treat athletes as creative partners and let brand storytelling develop organically.

Do good deals start before the contract?

Thompson, four years into his role at Reebok, described a relationship-first approach: the brand gets to know athletes through family dinners and archive tours before discussing commercial terms. Reebok's work with Angel Reese and Nate Ament shows how early investment in trust produces culturally relevant partnerships over time — though Thompson offered no figures on what that patience costs.

How do you measure the return?

Johnson pushed for measurable KPIs set before any activation, using metrics such as earned media value (the estimated worth of unpaid coverage) to assess what she calls return on influence. Awareness alone, she said, cannot justify future spend.

The hard part remains attribution — none of the speakers explained how earned media value isolates an athlete's effect from a campaign's other channels.

What separates commitment from gesture?

Odum closed the loop: intentionality and follow-through, not big budgets, define real brand investment in women's sports. He pointed to Cash App's debt-forgiveness initiative as proof that trust can translate into measurable community impact, through repeat collaborations and sustained communication rather than one-off launches.

The takeaway: brands that want standing in women's sports will need values alignment, athlete creative control and upfront metrics — before, not after, the deal is signed.