Do you know who Olivia Dunne is? If you’re a fan of college sports, and especially if you’re an LSU fan, you should.
Dunne, who is from New Jersey, is a member of the LSU gymnastics team. That sounds ordinary, but everything else about her is groundbreaking.
A junior, she is a communications studies major who clearly has taken her classes seriously. The Washington Post reported last week that Dunne is a “social influencer” with a total of 10 million followers on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, where she goes by the nickname Livvy.
She has used these platforms to reel in a number of corporate sponsorships, to the point that the Post described her as “one of the highest paid NCAA athletes.”
Dunne claims she’s bringing in a seven-figure income — $1,000,000 or more per year — as an influencer. If that’s anywhere close to true, it’s got to be one of the more surprising stories of college athletes’ ventures into name, image and likeness revenue, better known as NIL. Large sponsorships would be expected for football or basketball stars. But a gymnast?
Give Dunne credit. She saw an opportunity and acted on it. When NIL agreements became legal in the summer of 2021, after her freshman year, she was ready. She said she loves both gymnastics and social media, “so why not do both?” Which she has, apparently very well.
The Post listed five of her marketing deals, everything from L’Oreal to Grubhub. Last year she signed with the sports agency that represents professional athletes including NFL quarterback Joe Burrow and tennis stars Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic.
Dunne has mastered the art of marketing herself so well, in fact, that things got out of hand when LSU traveled to the University of Utah on Jan. 6 for its first competition of the season. Students at the meet were chanting her name and making so much noise that they disrupted the routines of other gymnasts.
“Afterward, throngs of young men surrounding the arena’s entrance and exits waiting for Dunne forced LSU to move its bus so the team could board safety,” the Post reported. “The incident was called ‘unhinged’ and ‘disturbing’ by reporters and people in the gymnastics community.” LSU’s coach says he’ll have extra security officers on hand for the rest of the season.
Dunne did not even compete at Utah because of a shoulder injury. But afterward, she went on social media to ask fans that attend LSU competitions to be respectful of all gymnasts. One reply, noted by the Post, said she was feeding the excitement by taking selfies with the Utah students. “Practice what you preach, boo,” the reply said. “You love the attention.”
As well Dunne should. Her social media skills have made her a wealthy young lady. Which naturally leads to the question of what’s more important: an education and the gymnastics team, or adding more followers on TikTok?
The public will find out as LSU’s gymnastics season unfolds over the coming weeks. But whatever happens with Livvy, her story is evidence that the NIL genie is out of the bottle and will not be put back in.
Purists will complain that college athletes should not be able to make money this way. But if that’s true; if someone does not retain the right to make money off their own work, then purists also should be critical of university athletic programs that chase dollars above all else.
Dunne’s success is creative, groundbreaking and entertaining. And in all honesty, it’s also a bit alarming. Can she keep classes, gymnastics and social media in the proper balance? Whether or not she does, there is no doubt that stories like hers are here to stay.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
