College Sports

How the tell

Published

5 months ago

January 9, 2025

It may also be the product of simple cost-benefit analysis: Spurs and Arsenal each reportedly hauled in around £10m (€12m) for their respective stints on the All or Nothing merry-go-round, and while that sum is nothing to be sneezed at (it’s good enough for a decent backup defender, say, or an under-the-radar prospect from the lower reaches of Ligue 1), it’s perhaps not quite enough to justify the disruptions and reputational risks involved.Neymar himself may not have been responsible for the crime against cinema that is Neymar: The Perfect Chaos, but Uninterrupted, the LeBron James-backed content studio formed with the promise of cutting out the journalistic intermediary and giving fans access to the unfiltered athlete’s voice, was, so the result does not deviate from the fare produced via more straightforward narrative conflicts of interest.This may have something to do with the overwhelmingly negative perception of these documentaries among players: former Spurs captain Hugo Lloris, for instance, was withering about the Amazon series in his recent autobiography, describing it as a muzzle on the players’ freedom of speech and movement (“We had to be careful all the time,” he wrote).As a revealing recent piece by the film writer Will Tavlin notes, Netflix’s real concern is scale rather than standards: sports documentaries, like all the other productions hosted on its platform, are merely a means to the company’s real end, which is acquiring ever-more subscribers. The streaming service’s priority is to have enough of everything to satisfy everyone.That so few of these documentaries produce anything worth paying attention to comes as no real surprise when you consider the entities behind them. More often that not, the subjects of these series are also their creators, which violates, of course, every principle of independence governing traditional documentary filmmaking: Together: Treble Winners was produced by City Studios, Manchester City’s in-house branded content agency; Fifa+, Fifa’s streaming and content platform, made Captains of the World; David Beckham’s Studio 99 co-produced the Netflix series about his life; and so on. In sport, the age of perpetual content is upon us, and it is viciously uninteresting. On Netflix, to take the biggest and most influential of these platforms as an example, recent highlights include Saudi Pro League Kickoff, a six-part series that introduces the Saudi domestic league to outsiders while doubling as a four-hour advertorial for the shopping malls and car parks of Riyadh and Jeddah; La Liga: All Access, which makes good on its promise of access but uses it to produce a startlingly sunny, uncritical snapshot of Barcelona’s financial woes and the Spanish top flight’s gentle decline; Together: Treble Winners, a heart-stoppingly dreary trudge through the B-roll and highlights of Manchester City’s treble-winning 2022-23 season; Captains of the World, a recap of the 2022 World Cup that neutralises the burning issue of that tournament (migrant worker deaths and the serial human rights abuses of the host nation) by emphasising how tough it is for professional footballers to have to think about politics; Anelka: Misunderstood, which departs from the defensible premise that Nicolas Anelka was one of the most enigmatic and difficult talents of his generation then proceeds to do nothing with it, reducing episodes like Anelka’s famous confrontation with Raymond Domenech at the 2010 World Cup to a series of platitudes like, “It was a moment I’ll never forget”; and Neymar: The Perfect Chaos, a look at the Brazilian supernova so fittingly half-assed it gives up after three episodes.

Welcome to Wrexham: The club's owners, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds (pictured), have brought a touch of Hollywood to the Welsh League One side. Photograph: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images — Welcome to Wrexham: The club’s owners, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds (pictured), have brought a touch of Hollywood to the Welsh League One side. Photograph: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

These productions don’t inform or enlighten the viewer about anything other than their makers’ gargantuan sense of their own importance; they are pure commercial products, contributing nothing to culture or human knowledge. Under the dominion of the platforms, filmmakers cede the terrain to unquestioning, zombie-like “content producers”; cinematic ambition gives way to simple calculations of length (the longer the series, the better); and artistic and journalistic values take a back seat to volume, which is the coin of the realm. If there’s one thing sport is good at, it’s generating endless amounts of content; indeed, much of it already exists in the form of game footage, which makes the modern streaming sports documentarian’s work a stress-free exercise in rearrangement, light contextualisation and packaging.How is it that such shockingly boring material keeps getting shovelled through the side door of the streaming platforms? The subjects’ motivation – for money, for attention – is of course part of the story, but the real answer lies in the priorities of the platforms themselves. The streamers understand that these films, like many of the others they host, are uninteresting – hence Netflix’s notorious “Are you still watching?” prompt after 90 minutes of unagitated viewing – but they don’t care. Their sole goal is to stuff their platforms with as much content as possible, turning them into the technological-cultural equivalent of ducks fattened by gavage.Finally there’s the question of what, exactly, these types of documentaries, which always claim to “tell all”, are supposed to achieve: by now viewers have realised that these shows are exercises in corporate PR rather than documentaries in any true sense of the term, which rather dilutes their appeal and pretensions to revelation. The only way this type of material can rise above the mundane is if it offers fresh perspective on a misunderstood protagonist (such as the Arsenal All or Nothing season, which did much to humanise Mikel Arteta for many of the club’s fans), or if events on the pitch do not go according to plan and the club suddenly descends into chaos.

David Beckham and his wife Victoria Beckham at the premiere of Netflix docmentary series 'Beckham'. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA-EFE — David Beckham and his wife Victoria Beckham at the premiere of Netflix docmentary series ‘Beckham’. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA-EFE

Rooney was the driving force behind Plymouth’s announcement last November that it would produce a behind-the-scenes documentary about the club’s battle to stay in the Championship. This was a scheme cooked up in the fires of the post-Welcome to Wrexham content jamboree, which has made seemingly every sub-top flight club across England eager to spin its struggles to stay afloat – amid deindustrialisation, post-Brexit economic malaise, the stresses and joys of small-city life, and the slog of the English Football League – into streaming gold.Even the widely praised Beckham, despite the documentary’s undeniable nostalgic appeal and meme-generating power, is designed as a publicity vehicle to keep its subject couple in the public eye, to ensure the Beckhams stay relevant. Perhaps the sole exception to this torrent of banality on Netflix is The Final: Attack on Wembley, which offers a riveting, if analytically superficial, tick-tock of the chaos that engulfed Wembley on the day of the Euro 2020 final.Won’t someone think of the streaming platforms? Wayne Rooney’s departure from Plymouth Argyle, after seven months and a winless run that left the club bottom of the Championship, not only suggests the former England star’s managerial career has reached its end – it’s also a signal of how contentious the fly-on-the-wall documentary has become in modern football.For the streaming platforms, professional sport has become the perfect partner, an unending source of primary and secondary material with a need for exposure as deep as the streamers’ own hunger for fresh televisual meat. The marriage between the two rests on a perfect balance of interests: the sporting entities get money and attention, the platforms get content, and both leave the scene with only quality left on the floor as evidence of their collaborative crime. Rooney’s managerial career may be close to the end, but it’s still further from death than the modern sports documentary – as a vehicle for uncovering the truth, contesting authority, and surprising the viewer – now appears. Are you still watching? – GuardianThese documentaries won’t win awards or huge followings; but there are enough people out there obsessed with Neymar, say – or passingly interested in him, or just plain bored – for Netflix to justify splashing some cash on a three-episode splodge of nothing about the Brazilian’s footballing career. Those viewers who do walk through the door of Netflix’s “ta-dum” intro won’t ascend to televisual heaven, but they’ll spend just enough time with Neymar: The Perfect Chaos to continue forking out €14.99 a month to keep their subscription. And that, ultimately, is all these productions are designed to do: help platforms maintain and grow their user numbers. Meanwhile, as the streamers’ economic arrangements – in particular, payment for sources and access – become the norm, ambitious documentaries with a less partial connection to their subjects get squeezed to the margins.Plymouth’s abandonment of this sweaty content “play” points, perhaps, to a broader indecision among professional teams across Europe about the benefits of flinging open the training ground gates to the corporate documentarian’s camera. Amazon’s All or Nothing is the series most emblematic of the modern soccer club’s need to “tell its story”, but it appears to have lost much of the momentum it had a few years ago, after the success of its seasons featuring Tottenham and Arsenal.

Neymar: The Perfect Chaos is a far cry from a 'tell-all'. Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images — Neymar: The Perfect Chaos is a far cry from a ‘tell-all’. Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images

This mortifying stew of boredom, pabulum, and money is good for the platforms, but terrible for sports fans. Football content producers and the organisations that pay them are not only failing to tell interesting stories; they’re also, in a way, killing the very institution of the sports documentary, flattening viewers’ expectations of the insight that narrative exposés of professional sport’s inner workings can offer and normalising a tabloid-like transactionalism in the way that stories about sport’s central personalities and institutions are presented to the public. The plan was to sell the finished product to a streaming service like Amazon or Netflix, thereby boosting the club’s coffers and stamping Plymouth Argyle on the cultural map with a force that games away to Preston and Oxford United alone can’t quite muster. Now, however, the plan is dead: with Rooney dispatched, the club has scrapped the documentary, which it feared could become a distraction as the team fights relegation. Neither decision has been lamented by the club’s fans, who never warmed to Rooney and reviled the idea of the documentary from its inception.Stylistically, they mostly follow the same template: a series of controversy-free interviews with talking heads on a couch, interspersed with footage from games (a big emphasis on crowd reaction shots, slow-motion, and close-ups of players’ legs), archival clips of contemporaneous TV news hits about the “exciting” bits in the story, and bland tracking shots of cities (young people playing volleyball on a beach, promenades with cafes, non-conversational old men drinking coffee in groups). At some point a chunk of text should appear on screen with words along the lines of “The reaction was not what they had been hoping for”, “Fans did not hide their feelings”, or “It was the penalty the world would never forget.”Sport’s mightiest personalities and institutions don’t need to “get ahead of the narrative” any more; increasingly they are the narrative, and the streamers’ seemingly inexhaustible resources and Haalandesque appetite for content are responsible for making sports cinema the most reliably lifeless and propagandistic viewing experience on the internet today. In some ways it’s a shame that Plymouth, careering towards near-certain relegation, did not follow through on Rooney’s plan since the best of the streaming era’s productions – the first season of Netflix’s Sunderland ‘Til I Die – gets all its juice from a calamitous and unexpected downturn in on-field fortunes.A documentary worthy of the name enjoys a measure of distance from its subject; the films responsible for the modern mainstream documentary boom – Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, Super Size Me, and so on – had a real outsider’s zeal, and they were all, in one way or another, exercises in challenging power. Streaming has upended all of that; in the hands of the platforms the sports documentary has become an instrument for consolidating power rather than holding it to account.And yet, despite the slight cooling in clubs’ ardour for the tell-nothing documentary, the streaming platforms’ thirst for soccer content remains insatiable. Open up Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, and the rest, and you’ll immediately be struck by both the size and sheer tedium of the streamers’ football-related libraries.

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Dellinger helps Messiah baseball close season as NCAA D-III runner-up

Eastern York graduate Drew Dellinger recorded plenty of big outs during the Falcons’ Cinderella run to the finals of the World Series. Iconic Goodyear Blimp celebrates 100 years The Goodyear Blimp took a victory lap through the skies near Akron, Ohio, on Tuesday to celebrate 100 years of the iconic dirigible. It wasn’t long ago […]

Published

56 minutes ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Eastern York graduate Drew Dellinger recorded plenty of big outs during the Falcons’ Cinderella run to the finals of the World Series.

It wasn’t long ago that Eastern York graduate Drew Dellinger and the rest of the Messiah baseball team were on the brink of missing the NCAA Division III Tournament entirely. The Falcons dropped Game 1 of the MAC Commonwealth championship series to York College on May 10 and needed back-to-back wins May 11 to keep their season alive.

Messiah swept that doubleheader to oust the rival Spartans and claim its first conference title since 2012. Then the Falcons traveled to Randolph-Macon and ran the table in the regional round, advancing to their first-ever Super Regional. They pulled off a stunning sweep of Salisbury to reach the D-III World Series, and after receiving the eighth seed in the championship tournament, they rolled to three more wins and were suddenly in the national finals.

The run finally came to an end Wednesday in Eastlake, Ohio, as Wisconsin-Whitewater completed a two-game drubbing of Messiah and secured the national championship. The Falcons finished 39-16, and their 10-game postseason winning streak that began against York included two upsets of No. 8-ranked Salisbury, one against No. 1 Johns Hopkins and two against No. 4 Endicott.

Dellinger, a senior relief pitcher, finished with a 5-1 record and a 3.55 ERA in 23 appearances (38 innings) this season. The right-hander did not allow a run in five outings during Messiah’s 10-game magic carpet ride. That included three shutout innings in a must-win game against York, 2 2/3 scoreless and a win in the regional clincher against Methodist and two frames in the World Series opener against Hopkins. He also twice came on to record the final out of an inning and preserve a lead.

Against third-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater (49-6) on Wednesday, Dellinger entered with the Falcons trailing 16-0 in the top of the sixth and allowed five runs (four earned) on three hits in 2 1/3 innings. He allowed two homers in the sixth and was pulled with one out and two runners on in the eighth, both of whom came around to score. Dellinger’s ERA stood at 2.78 prior to his final outing.

The Warriors beat Messiah 18-3 and 21-5 in the finals. The Falcons’ 10 straight postseason wins had all come by multiple runs; they topped Hopkins 16-7 on May 30, came back for a 9-5 victory over Endicott the following day and beat the Gulls again, 8-2, on Monday to reach the championship series.

Dellinger made by far his biggest impact for Messiah as a senior. He appeared in just 15 contests during his first three years, making one start in 2024. His 2.81 ERA in eight games (16 innings) as a junior set the stage for an expanded role this season. Dellinger’s control improved markedly, as he walked just 10 batters in 38 innings after giving up 22 free passes in his first 27 career frames.

At Eastern York, Dellinger was a York-Adams Division III honorable mention as a senior in 2021. Two of his former Golden Knights teammates, Evan Rishell and Bren Taylor, reached the Division II World Series with Millersville in 2023.

Three former York-Adams League athletes — New Oxford’s Thomas Haugh (Florida men’s basketball, D-I), Biglerville’s Levi Haines (Penn State wrestling, D-I) and Dallastown’s Sydney Ohl (Juniata women’s volleyball, D-III) — were part of NCAA championship teams in 2024-25. Gettysburg’s Kelly Oaster won individual D-III track titles in the 800 meters (both indoor and outdoor), while Spring Grove’s Hailey and Naveah Wolfe starred for the AVCA small-school champion Tampa women’s beach volleyball team. And Wrightsville’s Addison Fatta captured an NCAA gymnastics title with Oklahoma and earned First Team All-America honors in the all-around.

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MORE LOCAL IMPACTS

Seton Hill baseball’s Ian Korn (York Suburban) added another Division II All-American honor last Friday, making the American Baseball Coaches Association first team and receiving Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year distinction. Korn had previously received the same honors from the D2CAA and NCBWA, both of whom selected the junior as their Pitcher of the Year. The ABCA will announce its national Player and Pitcher of the Year on June 23. Korn went 11-2 with a 1.81 ERA in 13 starts this season, leading the Griffins to the Atlantic Super Regional as one of the nation’s last 16 teams standing.

He’s a time 𝐀𝐥𝐥-𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧!!
Redshirt junior Ian Korn was named a 𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 selection by the @abca1945, after receiving First Team accolades from the NCBWA and D2CCA. pic.twitter.com/i4LgEy6nJ7

— Seton Hill Baseball (@SHGriffBaseball) May 30, 2025

Auburn men’s golfer Carson Bacha (Central York) was named to Golfweek’s Men’s College All-America second team Wednesday in recognition of a career year. The fifth-year senior posted a 70.37 scoring average for the Tigers, who were ranked No. 1 for much of the season after winning a title in 2024. Auburn’s season ended last week in the NCAA match-play quarterfinals.

Bacha is also representing Team USA in the Palmer Cup, a mixed event that teed off Thursday morning at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Both the U.S. and International teams in the three-day event are composed of 12 men’s and women’s college golfers each.

In local coaching news, Todd Meckley has resigned as Penn State York’s head baseball coach and joined the York College program as an assistant. Meckley served as the Nittany Lions’ head coach for three seasons, guiding the program to its first-ever Small College World Series in 2024. Penn State University’s trustees voted in May to close seven satellite campuses, including York, after the 2026-27 academic year.

Millersville University announced Monday that Amanda Myers Strack (Red Lion) will be inducted into the Marauders’ Athletics Hall of Fame as part of its 2025 class. The 2018 college graduate remains the most successful javelin thrower in Millersville history, breaking a 24-year-old school record and eventually earning three top-10 finishes at the NCAA D-II championships during her career. Her induction dinner and ceremony will be held Friday, Oct. 3, as part of Millersville’s homecoming weekend.

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Federal judge declares Texas law granting illegal migrants in-state college tuition unconstitutional after state joins Trump in lawsuit

A federal judge on Wednesday permanently blocked Texas from enforcing a state law allowing illegal immigrants living in the Lone Star State to pay in-state tuition rates for public universities after the Trump administration challenged the statute. The two-decades-old law was overturned after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion in the US District […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The two-decades-old law was overturned after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas agreeing with the Justice Department’s contention that the statute “expressly and directly conflicts” with federal immigration law.

“[T]he Court hereby declares that the challenged provisions … as applied to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States, violate the Supremacy Clause and are unconstitutional and invalid,” District Judge Reed O’Connor determined.

“The Court also hereby permanently enjoins Defendant as well as its successors, agents, and employees, from enforcing Texas Education Code § 54.051(m) and § 54.052(a), as applied to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States,” O’Connor, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, ruled.

After the ruling, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared on X that “In-state tuition for illegal immigrants in Texas has ended.”

“Ending this discriminatory and un-American provision is a major victory for Texas,” Paxton said in a statement.

In a lawsuit filed shortly before Paxton entered the state’s joint motion in the case, the Trump administration argued that “federal law prohibits illegal aliens from getting in-state tuition benefits that are denied to out-of-state U.S. citizens.”

“There are no exceptions. Yet the State of Texas has ignored this law for years,” the lawsuit stated. “This Court should put that to an end.”

The 2001 state law was passed by the Texas Legislature under the administration of former Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who served as energy secretary during President Trump’s first term.

The law, which survived several Republican-led legislative repeal efforts, allowed illegal immigrant students who have been Texas residents for at least three years leading up to their high school graduation and who pledge to apply for permanent legal status to pay dramatically lower tuition rates than out-of-state students.

The University of Texas at Austin, for example, charges out-of-state students between $40,582 and $48,712 for annual tuition, whereas in-state students pay between $10,858 and $13,576, according to the school.

Texas was the first state in the nation to pass such legislation, which is now on the books in dozens of states.

“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to US citizens,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement issued before the judge’s ruling. “The Justice Department will relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law and ensure that U.S. citizens are not treated like second-class citizens anywhere in the country.”

The DOJ’s complaint cited Trump’s February executive order, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” and his April directive, “Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens,” as the impetus for the lawsuit.

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West to finish H.S. football career after Combine, 2025 NHL Draft

BUFFALO — Mason West will play quarterback at Edina High School in Edina, Minnesota, one last time before trading in his cleats for hockey skates for good in 2025-26. “I’ll play football in the fall and then head to Fargo (of the United States Hockey League),” West told NHL.com. “It was really important for me […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

BUFFALO — Mason West will play quarterback at Edina High School in Edina, Minnesota, one last time before trading in his cleats for hockey skates for good in 2025-26.

“I’ll play football in the fall and then head to Fargo (of the United States Hockey League),” West told NHL.com. “It was really important for me to play football as a senior with my friends. I always set goals for the year, and that was to win a state high school hockey championship and also a football championship.

“I haven’t done it in football so I kind of want to achieve that and stay loyal to my team because I think they need me.”

West (6-foot-6, 215 pounds) has been a two-sport standout at Edina the past three seasons. The right-shot center led the team in goals (27) and shots on goal (44), tied for first in game-winning goals (five), and was second in points (50) in 31 games as a junior this season.

He’s No. 27 on NHL Central Scouting’s final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the 2025 Upper Deck NHL Draft.

On the gridiron, he completed 178 of 244 passes for 2,592 yards, with 37 touchdowns and four interceptions. He finished with a 139.9 passer rating.

He said he will likely leave for Fargo in December after the end of football season.

“Fargo really gave me that experience of what the hockey path could look like,” West said. “Obviously, they don’t have that in football, so I got to see what the next step is for a hockey career, and I want to pursue that. I think I can get way better when I really focus on one sport.”

Selected in the fifth round (No. 75) of the 2023 USHL futures draft, West had nine points (one goal, eight assists) in 10 games after joining Fargo on March 14.

He hasn’t committed to a college but has narrowed his choices to Michigan State and Boston College. He has 27 interviews with NHL clubs at the scouting combine.

“I would say my best asset is my shot,” he said. “I really think I have a really good shot when I can get it off quick. I think I have really good awareness and vision on ice, whether it’s in the breakout zone, neutral zone, or in the offensive zone. I’m going to make those little slip passes in the offensive zone, anticipate the next play, knowing where guys are and where they need to be for the puck.”

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Troy Soccer Sets 2025 Schedule

TROY, Ala. – Troy soccer unveiled its 2025 schedule on Thursday ahead of head coach Stuart Gore‘s third season leading the Trojan program. The 18-match schedule features nine home matches at the Troy Soccer Complex and a competitive non-conference schedule against teams from all across the southeast. The Trojans begin the season with a two-game road […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 6, 2025

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TROY, Ala. – Troy soccer unveiled its 2025 schedule on Thursday ahead of head coach Stuart Gore‘s third season leading the Trojan program.

The 18-match schedule features nine home matches at the Troy Soccer Complex and a competitive non-conference schedule against teams from all across the southeast.

The Trojans begin the season with a two-game road trip, opening the campaign at Murray State (Aug.14) before heading to Alcorn State (Aug. 17). The home opener at the Troy Soccer Complex is slated for Aug. 22 against Southeastern Louisiana before another home match against Spring Hill College (Aug. 24).

A road trip to in-state foe North Alabama is on the slate for the Trojans (Aug. 28) while Troy will host Jacksonville (Aug. 31) after a 2-2 draw against the Dolphins on the road last season. Rounding out the non-conference schedule is a home match with Mississippi Valley State (Sept. 7) and a trip to DeLand, Fla., to play Stetson (Sept. 11).

In Sun Belt Conference action, the Trojans will play host to Southern Miss (Sept. 18), James Madison (Sept. 27), Georgia Southern (Oct. 5) and Louisiana (Oct. 24) before the regular season finale against rival South Alabama (Oct. 29).

Sun Belt road trips include Arkansas State (Sept. 14), Texas State (Sept. 21), Old Dominion (Oct. 2), Georgia State (Oct. 12) and ULM (Oct. 19).

The 2025 Trojans return three of its top five scorers from a young 2024 squad in sophomore Hailey Phillips (5 pts), sophomore Georgia Mulholland (4 pts) and junior Daniell Trovato (4 pts) along with key defenders in sophomores Grace DeShetler and Brooke Slater and junior Shyanne Scharbrough. Senior Jiselle Daniels also returns after ranking third in the Sun Belt with 30 shots during conference play.

In goal, Troy returns senior Nittany Vega, who finished the 2024 campaign with back-to-back shutouts against Coastal Carolina and Arkansas State, and added Auburn transfer Taylor Richards. Other transfer portal additions for the Trojans include former East Carolina midfielder Elsa Stedman and former Bowling Green forward Alaina Uncapher.

College Sports

What’s next for influencer Livvy Dunne after college gymnastics career? ‘Everything,’ she says

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With her college gymnastics days behind her, influencer and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Livvy Dunne is moving on with life — but that doesn’t mean she’ll be far from the public eye. Dunne, who has more than 13 million followers on social media, created a multimillion-dollar personal brand while competing as a […]

Published

2 hours ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Dunne, who has more than 13 million followers on social media, created a multimillion-dollar personal brand while competing as a gymnast at LSU. Now she’s trying to help other female athletes do the same, helping to educate them about name, image and likeness deals and personal branding.

“I’m going to miss gymnastics so much because it has been a part of me for almost 20 years,” Dunne told The Associated Press at AthleteCon, where she had a speaking engagement. “What’s next? Everything. I want to do all of the things that I couldn’t do while I was a gymnast” because of the time constraints of being a student-athlete.

“So there are some really cool opportunities — stay tuned,” she added.

Dunne didn’t disclose any details, but it’s clear she plans to maintain her personal brand, which she developed along with the help of older sister and manager Julz Dunne.

AthleteCon CEO Sam Green, who has helped land more than 1,000 NIL deals, invited the Dunne sisters to speak to college athletes as part of a two-day seminar. Athletes met with representatives from social media platforms including TikTok, Snapchat and Meta, created live content and competed for NIL deals. They learned how to turn a creative idea into a brand.

More than 100 athletes attended, with another 150 turned away because of space constraints.

Green’s company slogan is “all athletes are creators.”

“I’m really big on giving athletes the tools to monetize their brand,” Green said.

Few, if any, have done that better than Livvy Dunne.

She helped the Tigers to the 2024 national championship as a junior before missing this past season because of an injury. But she was better known on social media, where she amassed more than 8 million followers on TikTok and 5.3 million on Instagram before leaving LSU.

Advertisers took notice.

She was the highest-paid female college athlete across all sports during her time with the Tigers, earning more than $4.1 million, according to On3. She worked with brands like Nautica, Crocs and Sports Illustrated, where she recently did a split on the catwalk on a “triple dare.”

Her boyfriend is Pittsburgh Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes, who played baseball at LSU.

“She’s it,” Green said. “She’s the road map. She’s the blueprint and she was the first to do it. The Dunnes are so innovative and they have done it with genuine intent. Livvy is the definition of NIL, in my opinion, at least true NIL and what it was meant to be from the start.”

Dunne said navigating the ever-changing world of NIL was like living in the wild West.

“I learned that you don’t have to do one thing and be great at that one thing,” Dunne said. “You can do multiple different things and find success in tons of different areas.”

But there were trying times as she balanced classes, competition and the constant demand for multiple daily social media posts.

She remembers walking into LSU gymnastics coach Jay Clark’s office in tears because of stress about her schedule.

She fought through it and is glad she did.

“I hope people here take away that you are more than your sport and everybody deserves to capitalize on their name, image and likeness,” Dunne said. “Curiosity is key. Ask questions, network, and just create because, who knows, the sky is the limit. It got me to where I am today. Don’t just consume, but create.

“Keep posting,” she added. “The audience is there. People are interested. They want to see what you have to offer. Everyone’s story is different and has to be told.”

___

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Michigan State Athletics

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Former Michigan State All-Americans Flozell Adams and Morten Andersen, along with former head coach Darryl Rogers, are featured on the National Football Foundation’s 2026 ballot (Football Bowl Subdivision) for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. In addition, former Spartan Gideon Smith, the first African American to play intercollegiate athletics at […]

Published

3 hours ago

June 5, 2025

Your Sports Nation

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Former Michigan State All-Americans Flozell Adams and Morten Andersen, along with former head coach Darryl Rogers, are featured on the National Football Foundation’s 2026 ballot (Football Bowl Subdivision) for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

In addition, former Spartan Gideon Smith, the first African American to play intercollegiate athletics at Michigan State and a three-year letterwinner from 1913-15, is on the ballot in the divisional coaching category. Smith coached at Hampton University from 1921-40 and led the Pirates to the 1922 Black College National Championship. He recorded four CIAA titles and two unbeaten seasons in his career. The longest tenured coach in Hampton history, Smith has the second-most wins all-time at the school.

Mark Dantonio, the winningest head coach in Michigan State history, was elected to the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class and was officially inducted on Dec. 10, 2024, in Las Vegas. Four other MSU coaches are currently enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame: Clarence “Biggie” Munn, Charles Bachman, Duffy Daugherty and Frank “Muddy” Waters. Former MSU head coach Nick Saban (1995-99), who won six national championships at Alabama and one at LSU, will be a part of the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame Class.

In 2019, running back Lorenzo White was the 10th Spartan player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, joining halfback John Pingel (inducted in 1968), tackle Don Coleman (1975), linebacker George Webster (1987), defensive end Bubba Smith (1988), safety Brad Van Pelt (2001), wide receiver Gene Washington (2011), linebacker Percy Snow (2013), running back Clinton Jones (2015) and wide receiver Kirk Gibson (2017).

The 2026 ballot, which includes 79 players and nine coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision and 100 players and 35 coaches from the divisional ranks, was emailed earlier this week to the more than 12,000 NFF members and current NFF Hall of Famers whose votes will be tabulated and submitted to the NFF’s Honors Court, which will deliberate and select the class.

The Honors Court, chaired by NFF Board Member and NFF College Football Hall of Famer Archie Griffin from Ohio State, includes an elite and geographically diverse pool of athletic administrators, NFF Hall of Famers and members of the media. Click here for the official criteria and the voting procedures, which govern election to the NFF Hall.

“Each year, the NFF Hall of Fame ballot provides our members with the meaningful opportunity to help shape the future of college football’s most prestigious honor,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning, a 1989 NFF College Football Hall of Fame inductee from Ole Miss. “Our voters are deeply passionate and knowledgeable, and their involvement ensures that those selected represent the very best our sport has to offer. It’s a tradition rooted in excellence, and we are excited to see who will be chosen for the 2026 Class.”

The announcement of the 2026 NFF College Football Hall of Fame Class will be made in early 2026, with specific details to be announced in the future.

The 2026 NFF College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 68th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 8, 2026, at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino, and they will be honored at their respective schools with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, during the 2026 season.

Of the 5.78 million individuals who have played college football since Princeton first battled Rutgers on Nov. 6, 1869, only 1,111 players have earned induction into the NFF College Football Hall of Fame, or less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of those who have played the game during the past 155 seasons. From the coaching ranks, 237 individuals have achieved NFF Hall of Fame distinction.

Below are bio sketches for Adams, Andersen and Rogers:

Flozell Adams (OT, 6-7, 300, Bellwood, Ill.): Earned first-team All-America honors from the Walter Camp Foundation as a senior in 1997 . . . one of only three Spartans to be named the Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year . . . started all 12 games at left tackle in 1997 and helped the Spartans to a No. 24 ranking in rushing offense (199.5 ypg) . . . also opened holes for MSU running backs who tallied 100 or more yards seven times during the season . . . allowed just two sacks and recorded 37 pancakes . . . in his final game at Spartan Stadium, he graded out 89 percent overall with a season-high six pancakes vs. Penn State as MSU gained 452 yards on the ground, the most ever allowed by the Nittany Lions . . . named recipient of MSU’s President’s Award in 1997 . . . three-year starter (left tackle in 1997; right tackle in 1995-96) . . . four-year letterwinner (1994-97) . . . was an honorable mention All-Big Ten choice in 1995, a second-team All-Big Ten pick in 1996, and a first-team all-league honoree in 1997 . . . drafted in the second round (No. 38 overall) by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1998 NFL Draft . . . played 13 seasons in the NFL, 12 with Dallas (1998-2009) and one with Pittsburgh (2010) . . . five-time Pro Bowler played in 198 career games, including 194 starts . . . his final game was in Super Bowl XLV with the Steelers.

Morten Andersen (PK, 6-2, 195, Struer, Denmark): Four-year letterman played for both Darryl Rogers (1978-79) and Frank “Muddy” Waters (1980-81) . . . closed out his career as Michigan State’s all-time leader in field goals (45), extra points (126) and scoring (261 points) . . . still ranks among MSU’s all-time Top 10 in extra points (sixth), scoring (eighth) and field goals (ninth) . . . connected on nine field goals from 50-plus yards during his career, including a Big Ten-record 63-yarder at Ohio State in 1981 . . . also converted 62-straight extra-point attempts during one stretch . . . named to the Walter Camp Football Foundation All-Century Team (1900-2000) in 1999 . . . led the team in scoring with 73 points as a freshman in 1978, converting 52-of-54 extra points and 7-of-16 field goals, as the Spartans went 8-3 and won a share of the Big Ten Championship at 7-1 . . . led the Big Ten in kick scoring with 56 points in league games (44-of-45 extra points and 4-of-10 field goals) in 1978 . . . finished second on the team in scoring with 58 points as a sophomore in 1979, trailing only running back Derek Hughes who scored 11 touchdowns for 66 points . . . second-team All-Big Ten selection connected on all 25 extra-point and 11-of-18 field-goal attempts, including five from 50-plus yards . . . made a career-best four field goals in the 1979 season opener against Illinois . . . once again led the Spartans in scoring with 57 points as a junior in 1980, hitting 21-of-22 extra points and 12-of-18 field goals . . . named second-team All-Big Ten for the second year in a row . . . made three field goals from 50-plus yards, including a 57-yarder at Michigan . . . only 20 of his 50 kickoffs (40 percent) were returned by opponents in 1980 . . . earned first-team All-America honors as a senior, from The Sporting News, United Press International and Walter Camp . . . led the team in scoring for the third time in his career with 73 points in 1981, converting 28-of-29 extra points and 15-of-20 field goals . . . selected first-team All-Big Ten . . . ranked second in the conference in scoring with 68 points in league play (26-of-26 extra points and 14-of-18 field goals) . . . matched his career high with four field goals against Indiana . . . opponents returned just 17 of his 56 kickoffs (30 percent) in 1981 . . . also earned Academic All-Big Ten honors as a senior . . . selected by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round (No. 86 overall) of the 1982 National Football League Draft and became a seven-time Pro Bowl selection (1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992 and 1995) . . . named First-Team All-Pro three times (1986, 1987 and 1995) . . . kicked for five teams during his 25-year career and retired from the game in 2008 as the NFL’s all-time leading scorer with 2,544 points . . . spent 13 seasons with the Saints (1982-94), eight with the Atlanta Falcons (1995-2000; 2006-07), two with the Kansas City Chiefs (2002-03) and one year each with the New York Giants (2001) and Minnesota Vikings (2004) . . . Atlanta advanced to its only Super Bowl following the 1998 season as Andersen’s 38-yard field goal beat the Vikings in the NFC title game . . . enshrined in Canton as part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2017.

Darryl Rogers (Head Coach; Michigan State, 1976-79): Guided the Spartans to a 24-18-2 record (.568) in four years as head coach at Michigan State from 1976-79 and coached three first-team All-Americans (wide receiver Kirk Gibson, tight end Mark Brammer and punter Ray Stachowicz) . . . led the Spartans to the 1978 Big Ten championship, claiming the school’s fourth conference title . . . honored as the 1978 Big Ten Coach of the Year after the Spartans closed the championship season on a seven-game winning streak, which started with a 24-15 victory at Michigan, to finish the year 8-3 overall and 7-1 in the Big Ten . . . 1978 team featured one of the top offenses in school history, setting then MSU single-season records for points scored (411) and scoring average (37.4 points per game) . . . spent 20 seasons as a college head coach (Cal State Hayward, 1965; Fresno State, 1966-72; San Jose State, 1973-75; Michigan State, 1976-79; Arizona State, 1980-84) . . . passed away at the age of 84 on July 11, 2018.

Three Spartan Legends are on the 2026 College Football Hall of Fame Ballot!

Flozell Adams

Morten Andersen

Darryl Rogers pic.twitter.com/MNWNtWKjJ2

— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) June 5, 2025