{"id":600063,"date":"2023-01-22T06:49:45","date_gmt":"2023-01-22T12:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/22\/why-athletes-like-the-nbas-kevin-durant-are-aggressively-investing-in-the-creator-economy\/"},"modified":"2023-01-22T06:49:45","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T12:49:45","slug":"why-athletes-like-the-nbas-kevin-durant-are-aggressively-investing-in-the-creator-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/22\/why-athletes-like-the-nbas-kevin-durant-are-aggressively-investing-in-the-creator-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why athletes like the NBA\u2019s Kevin Durant are aggressively investing in the creator economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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January 19, 2023<\/span> | By Alexander Lee<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"football\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tIvy Liu\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The digital creator business Goldenset Collective launched yesterday with $10 million in seed funding \u2014 including backing from Thirty Five Ventures, the investment firm of NBA star Kevin Durant. As traditional athletes increasingly bring their money and business acumen into creator-powered businesses, Durant is merely the latest to dip his toes into the space.<\/p>\n

Goldenset is an incubator for digital creators, providing them with the funding and structural support necessary to convert their followings into sustainable businesses. It was founded by Darren Lachtman and Nick Millman, whose previous venture, the Gen Z-focused <\/strong>media network Brat TV, also counted Durant among its investors.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it just aligned with how [Durant and his partners] <\/strong>think about the space,\u201d Lachtman said. \u201cIt\u2019s a combo of both knowing us from our previous work and also being interested in the creator economy as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rise of the athlete investor<\/a> is nothing new. For decades now, traditional sports stars have been a major source of venture capital for businesses across tech, retail and media \u2014\u00a0though athletes\u2019 investments have certainly ramped up since 2020<\/a>. But as a new wave of businesses have arisen to take advantage of the growing influence of individual online creators<\/a>, athletes have been some of the first movers in getting involved.<\/p>\n

Durant is among a horde of current and former leading athletes who have invested in creator-centric businesses in recent years. In October 2022, NFL wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster invested in the esports company World Champion Fantasy<\/a>; former quarterback Kurt Benkert invested in the esports organization Spacestation Gaming<\/a> in April 2022; in December 2022, Caleb Williams, the winner of last year\u2019s Heisman Trophy, founded the athlete image and likeness licensing business Hall of Goats to take advantage of college athletes\u2019 growing prominence as content creators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that 98 percent of them don\u2019t go pro, so we look at this as an opportunity for them to make money now, but also, hopefully, make passive income even beyond their playing years,\u201d said Hall of Goats co-founder Greig Carlson, himself a former University of Southern California football player.\u00a0His company\u2019s efforts are supported by NCAA\u2019s revised name and image licensing policy<\/a>, which the organization updated in 2021 to give college athletes more opportunities to monetize their personal brands.<\/p>\n

To some extent, traditional athletes\u2019 interest in the creator space is due to their intimate understanding of what it takes to transform an individual into a brand. \u201cAthletes have an outgoing personality, and they just get it: \u2018this is me, I\u2019m the product.\u2019 They get that know-how to manage it properly,\u201d said Ahman Green, a veteran NFL running back who is an investor in ESTV<\/a>, an online streaming platform. \u201cI learned that I\u2019m not just a bottle of Heinz ketchup on the shelf \u2014 I have a brain, I can think.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Athletes are arguably the original influencers<\/a>, and during the height of COVID-19 lockdown, many turned to livestreaming<\/a> to fill the void, leaving them with armies of loyal online fans even after they returned to the playing field. Armed with a firsthand understanding of the creator economy \u2014\u00a0and with lucrative athletic salaries \u2014\u00a0it is all but inevitable that traditional athletes will continue to invest in the space as the divide between athletes\u00a0and digital creators continues to dissolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat some of these athletes do is much more creator-like behavior, where they are similar to these more digitally native YouTubers,\u201d said Millman, the Goldenset Collective founder. \u201cThis is going to be interesting \u2014 and over the next couple of years, I think there\u2019s a high chance we end up working with some for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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