Soccer superstar Alex Morgan is the third most marketable athlete in the world, according to SportsPro’s 2023 ranking that assesses athletes’ personal brand and reach. Lionel Messi, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo are ranked one, two and four respectively, while fellow U.S. women’s national team forward Megan Rapinoe joins Morgan in the top five. In total, 23 female athletes are listed among the top 50 most marketable athletes in 2023, according to SportsPro.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight, analysis and commentary on the report, including topics related to personal branding and sports marketing. If you would like to speak with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations Specialist Cate Douglass at [email protected].
Lisa Delpy Neirotti is the director of the MS in Sport Management Program and an associate professor of Sport Management. She has been a professor of sport, event, and tourism management GW for more than 30 years. Delpy Neirotti helped develop the Sport Philanthropy Certificate, which serves to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of non-profit organizations using sport for social good. She also directs the GW Green Sports Scorecard to help increase the sustainability of sport facilities, organizations and events, and serves on the faculty of the International Olympic Committee’s Executive Master's In Management of Sports Organizations (MEMOS).
Delpy Neirotti shares her key takeaways from this year’s list:
“What I find most interesting and encouraging about the methodology is that it goes behind just the social media numbers and athletes financial worth but focuses heavily on athlete ‘citizenship’ and ‘purpose’ such as their engagement on social issues and advocacy including environment and DEI.”
“Americans may also be surprised that more NFL players are not listed and that Travis Kelsey, with all his buzz, is listed #35 ahead of Patrick Mahomes #45. This is a global ranking and the NFL is not that popular outside of the U.S. Perhaps that will change with flag football now in the 2028 Olympic Games!”
Meredith Geisler is a visiting assistant professor of sport management with over 30 years of experience in sports public relations. Prior to her appointment at GW, Meredith was senior vice president of communications for Tandem Sports + Entertainment, a full-service sports and entertainment agency with expertise in athlete management, talent representation, marketing, communications and publicity services. Prior to helping launch Tandem in 2013, Meredith founded sports PR company Meredith communications and previously held senior roles at Advantage International (now Octagon), Fila USA, Total Sports and eoSports.
Geisler shares her key takeaways from this year’s list:
“More sports fans are watching and consuming more women's sports because more women's sports are being broadcast. It's newfound exposure for women athletes. The 2023 Women's World Cup saw record numbers of television viewers. The 2023 NCAA women's basketball championship was the most-watched women's college basketball game in television history. All of this new and heightened exposure helps women athletes build their brands. Additionally, more and more women athletes, like Alex Morgan, Simone Biles, Coco Gauff, among others, had hit a roadblock as it came to media coverage, so they took it upon themselves to create their own coverage through developing their social media presence. So the heightened consumption of women's sports coupled with significant social media following has led to more marketable female athletes.”
“The women and men on the most marketable athlete list have integrated their personalities, incredible athletic achievements and creative marketing strategies to help build their personal brands, which allows them to connect to fans and corporate partners.”
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