Most Athletes Don’t Get Six-Figure Sponsorships. That’s Where Flavor Flav Comes In. (2024)

This is part of Slate’s 2024 Olympics coverage. Read more here.

Locking down a big-ticket sponsor to fund the pursuit of an Olympic medal might actually be harder than winning gold. But lesser-known sports at the Paris Olympic Games are racking up some major—and unlikely—endorsem*nts.

Probably no one had Flavor Flav resurrecting his public profile as the hype man for the U.S. women’s water polo team, but after team captain Maggie Steffens posted on Instagram asking for financial help, Flav signed a five-year sponsorship deal with the U.S. women’s and men’s teams. (He’s been on the ground in Paris helping team members land brand deals too.) The rapper and reality TV personality told NPR that he hoped a Black sponsor would open the door for more people of color in the traditionally white sport.

“If you’re passionate about something, you want to be involved and help drive growth,” explains Aaron Rapf, the founder and CEO of Advantage Sports Marketing Group. But it’s also a savvy entrepreneurial opportunity: “People are trying to get in on the ground floor because they think this is a sport that people are willing to pay to watch on a regular basis,” he adds.

U.S. women’s rugby saw a surge of interest in Paris, with a record-breaking 66,000 fans packed into Stade de France as the team won bronze, its first Olympic medal. “I hope this means more money and funding for us because we deserve it,” breakout star Ilona Maher said afterward. Within moments, investor Michele Kang, who runs women’s football organization Kynisca Sports International, announced that she would give USA Rugby $4 million over the course of four years.

Meanwhile, Reddit co-founder and Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian launched Athlos, the first women-only track meet, which will take place in September in New York City—and he promised the 36 female Olympians running the event that he’d personally pay them $60,000 if they won a gold medal in Paris. (Gabby Thomas, the 200-meter winner, is about to get an influx of cash.)

That kind of windfall can be huge for Olympic athletes, few of whom garner the six- and seven-figure contracts LeBron James, Coco Gauff, and Scottie Scheffler command, says John Fortunato, professor of communications and media management at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business. Unsponsored sprinter Alaysha Johnson said, after the 100-meter semifinals, that she wants “to make it so that everyone who is running fast is getting a piece of the pie. Period. I don’t want it to be a situation where you have to be this phenom in order to be taken care of, valued, and respected in this sport.”

Of course, the Olympics as a whole get big money from brands and broadcast partners to boost visibility of the Games, Fortunato explains, “but in terms of filtering that [those earnings] down to the athletes, when you’re talking about nearly 600 athletes on Team USA, it really doesn’t cover everything.”

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee does pay Team USA athletes for medaling but not for competing in the Olympics, although they can apply for grants to support their training and travel. But being an elite athlete is expensive, and “most teams rely on sponsors for travel, accommodations, nutritional support, rent/lodging, and simply affording to live in this day and age,” Steffens wrote in her Instagram post.

There’s little money to go around from sports’ governing bodies, and “six-figure sponsorship deals are few and far between,” says Rapf. Because training for the Olympics demands the kind of time investment that generally precludes a high-paying day job—case in point: Kristen Faulkner, the first American to win the women’s cycling road race in 40 years, quit her job as a venture capitalist to focus on cycling—athletes are turning to less conventional means of financial support.

Five athletes went to Paris through Boston-based running brand Tracksmith’s Amateur Sports Program, which provides gear, stipends, and on-site support to unsponsored athletes (and helped two athletes secure footwear sponsorships after the Tokyo Olympics). Hurdler Trevor Bassitt is in Paris after participating in a similar initiative from Bandit Running, out of New York, which provided logo-free gear and a modest cash stipend to 35 athletes at the U.S. Olympic trials.

Bassitt is also among many at these Games who are using GoFundMe to raise money for their Olympic dreams. American table tennis player Kanak Jha solicited more than $30,000 to help cover the costs of training, travel, accommodation, and his hiring of a private coach. Sprinter Brittany Brown, who is sponsored by Nike, raised money so her family could come witness her win bronze in the 200-meter race. Some athletes, including New Zealand rower Robbie Manson, U.K. diver Jack Laugher, and Canadian pole vaulter Alysha Newman, even use the subscription content-creation site OnlyFans to supplement their income.

Social media has become a powerful force in connecting athletes with potential funding. After discus thrower Veronica Fraley tweeted, “I compete in the Olympic Games TOMORROW and can’t even pay my rent,” Ohanian and Flav almost immediately sent donations. Fraley’s rent is now paid off for the year, and she has raised over $23,000 on GoFundMe to keep training for the World Championships and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Even though she didn’t make it to the finals, she’s proof that a podium finish isn’t the only way to live the Olympic dream.