This year’s 50 Most Marketable (50MM) Athletes boast endorsement deals with sponsors spanning a range of categories, including more traditional industries like sportswear, insurance and automotive as well as emerging or niche sectors such as crypto, skincare and artificial intelligence (AI) platforms.
While the benefits of a sponsor associating itself with an elite athlete might be obvious, fronting campaigns for brands which invest millions in marketing around the world can also take a sportsperson’s profile to the next level.
However, gone are the days when athletes were mere spokespeople for the products they were paid to promote or voiceless participants in a brand’s advertising campaign. Today’s sportspeople are collaborating with rather than simply endorsing their sponsors, challenging them to showcase their off-field lives and support the causes they believe in.
So, to mark the launch of the 16th edition of 50MMSportsPro highlights some of the campaigns and collaborations which demonstrate how today’s most marketable sportspeople are rewriting the rules of athlete endorsement together with their partners.
Simone Biles x Powerade
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Participating in a sport obsessed with perfection, Simone Biles showed that pressure can get to anyone when she pulled out of Olympic competition in Tokyo to prioritise her mental health.
Rather than shy away from the subject, Biles’ sponsor Powerade made it the focal point of its marketing campaign for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Titled ‘The Vault’, the commercial showed the American blocking out doubting voices and taking a deep breath to emphasise the importance of taking a pause.
The ad not only humanised Biles, making one of the greatest – and most marketable – athletes of all time even more relatable, but also helped to further normalise conversations around elite sport and what has historically been a taboo subject in mental health.
The rest, as they say, is history. Biles went on to silence the critics who questioned her withdrawal in Tokyo by adding three gold medals and a silver to her Olympic haul in the French capital.
Nike x A’ja Wilson x Caitlin Clark x Jordan Chiles x Aryana Sabalenka x Alexia Putellas
US sportswear giant Nike had been absent from the Super Bowl ad game for 27 years before 2025, so it was notable that it decided to put women’s sport front and centre of its commercial during what is the biggest annual US event in men’s sport, with a national audience of more than 100 million viewers.
A’ja WilsonCaitlin Clark, Jordan Chiles, Aryana Sabalenka and Alexia Putellas were among the athletes from 50MM to star in ‘So Win’, which challenges them to defy all of the things female athletes are told they can’t do – like put themselves first, fill a stadium, be emotional, or speak up.
Several athletes featured in the campaign have spoken publicly about topics such as gender equality, and Nike’s decision to elevate them on what is traditionally a male-dominated evening helped illustrate its commitment to inclusivity at a time when brands were being challenged.
Lewis Hamilton x Dior
This year’s most marketable athlete Lewis Hamilton is a regular at the Met Gala and was even co-chair of this year’s event alongside musician Pharell Williams, actor Colman Domingo, musician A$AP Rocky and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
The best dressed driver on the Formula One grid’s outfit for the evening was provided by Dior, who the well-known environmentalist has been working with since 2024 on a range of sustainable capsule collections.
Hamilton is one of a growing number of athletes who express themselves away from their field of play through what they wear, and this partnership is evidence that sportsmen and women are no longer just seen as models for fashion houses – but collaborators too.
Another good example is the recent tie-up between American Eagle and NFL star Travis Kelce’s Tru Kolors for a capsule collection and accompanying ad campaign.
Given his cultural influence and engagement to pop megastar Taylor Swift, some commentators even speculated that the clothing company was hoping the collaboration might even deliver a bounce-back moment following its controversial Sydney Sweeney campaign.
Ilona Maher x Maybelline
Few athletes have shot to prominence quite like Ilona Maher, whose sharp sense of humour, light-hearted social media content and advocacy for body positivity have seen her become rugby’s most marketable player.
Maher is one of a number of female athletes in this year’s 50MM with partners in the beauty category, which is a particularly popular subject on platforms like TikTok, where Maher has nearly four million followers. To that end, it has been no surprise to see the 29-year-old’s sponsor Maybelline support her stance that it is possible to be both athletic and feminine through playful social media campaigns illustrating that its lipstick can withstand even the toughest of activities.
More recently, though, she has teamed up with Barbie to promote confidence among young girls, amplifying the message that they can dream to be whatever they want – whether it be a professional athlete or a teacher.
Flau’jae Johnson x Powerade
There are few better examples of today’s versatile generation of athletes than college basketball star Flau’jae Johnson, who also moonlights as a rapper.
Her ability to resonate with both sports and music fans has unsurprisingly earned her around 40 NIL deals, including with MassMutual, which she partnered with on a financial literacy campaign shortly before opting not to enter the WNBA Draft, offering an opportunity to maximise her earnings in college.
Perhaps the LSU Tigers guard’s most eye-catching campaign, however, was with Powerade, which tapped into her musical talents for an exclusive new song in the build-up to this year’s March Madness.
Marcus Rashford x Burberry
As Northstar Solutions Group’s new Athlete Persona Model would attest, Marcus Rashford is one of the more polarising figures to feature in this year’s 50MM.
The England international’s activism during the Covid-19 pandemic made him something of a lightning rod for criticism when his on-field form started to dip at Manchester Unitedbut that seldom deterred brands from wanting to support his message.
While he was perhaps best known for campaigning for free school meals during lockdown, he previously worked with British luxury fashion house Burberry to support organisations in the UK committed to helping disadvantaged children develop their literacy skills, generating greater publicity for his mission to democratise access to books.
Rashford is among a growing number of athletes who are working with brands to drive change in society, helping them reach target demographics which might otherwise be harder to engage with through sport alone.
Steph Curry’s partnership with Rakutenfor example, was focused on supporting emerging Black designers, while Coco Gauff’s collaboration with UPS has been focused on giving opportunities to small and medium sized businesses.
Coco Gauff has worked with UPS to support small and medium-sized businesses (Image credit: UPS)
Bukayo Saka has gone down a similar route through his partnership with freelance platform Fiverr, starring in a campaign that pays homage to his background and champions providing equal opportunities to people regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or socio-economic background.
Beth Mead x Dirt is Good
Beth Mead took a stand alongside her England teammates when they pushed kit supplier Nike to provide different coloured shorts due to concerns about having to wear white while menstruating.
It was therefore natural for the 30-year-old, 46th in this year’s 50MM, to front Unilever-owned detergent brand Dirt is Good’s ‘Every stain is part of the game’ campaign as part of its partnership with Arsenalwhich aimed to break the stigma around periods in sports.
As well as appearing in the hero ad, Mead starred in a video content series educating coaches, parents and teachers about how to tackle period stains. The campaign delivered more than 240 million organic impressions and 85 per cent higher engagement compared to benchmarks of other Arsenal partners.
Noah Lyles x Adidas
Noah Lyles isn’t short of confidence. While that appeals to some, others revelled in seeing him fail to win the men’s 200m final at last year’s Paris Olympics after claiming 100m gold days earlier.
Starring in his sponsor Adidas’ ‘Out of the Box’ campaign, which also sees him discuss his love of music and passion for nail art, Lyles pointed out that he became the world’s fastest man despite having asthma, ADD, anxiety and depression.
By giving Lyles a platform to open up about the challenges he’s overcome, the US sportswear giant sent a powerful message to others who have similar challenges, emphasising that those characteristics don’t define what they can go on to achieve.
