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1. Olivia Dunne, 20, Gymnast at LSU
NIL Valuation - $2.3 million
Per Post Value - $31,000
LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne, 20, tops On3's NIL Valuation list ranking college athletes by performance, influence, and exposure
Dunne has a valuation of $2.3 million, according to the sports website, which uses a proprietary algorithm to calculate the monetary value of an athlete's name, image, and likeness (NIL)
Olivia Dunne started participating in gymnastics at the age of three, and the New Jersey native is now one of the top earners in collegiate sports after raking in her first million by the time she was 18.
After years of competition, she made her elite debut at the 2014 American Classic and went on to join the U.S. national gymnastics team three years later. In 2020, she stepped away from elite gymnastics to compete at the college level at Louisiana State University.
Dunne grew her social media following by sharing an inside look at her glamorous life as an NCAA gymnast. By August 2021, she was the most-followed college athlete with 5 million combined followers across multiple platforms.
Initially, she wasn't allowed to make money off of her online fame due to the NCAA's restrictions on payments to athletes, including sponsorship deals, but that all changed when the organization changed its policy in June 2021.
The influencer has a combined total of 8.3 million followers on TikTok and Instagram
In September 2021, she announced that she had landed a partnership with activewear brand Vuori, which Forbes reported was worth 'mid-six figure'
A month after it was announced that college athletes were allowed to earn a profit off of their name, image, and likeness, she signed with Endeavor Talent Agency's WME Sports.
By September 2021, Dunne had announced that she had landed a partnership with activewear brand Vuori, which Forbes reported was worth 'mid-six figures.'
As her star continued to rise, she went on to score lucrative deals with American Eagle, PlantFuel, and Bartleby.
Dunne now has a combined total of 8.3 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, and her posts are valued at $31,000 each, according to On3.
2. Sunisa Lee, 19, Gymnast at Auburn
NIL Valuation - $1.5 million
Per Post Value - $21,000
Sunisa Lee, 19, comes in second place with a valuation of $1.5 million - a year after she won the gold in the women's gymnastics all-around final at the Tokyo Olympics
Lee, who is known as Suni to friends and family, went on to achieve great success as a gymnast at Auburn University
Sunisa Lee, who hails from Minnesota, is the daughter of Laotian refugees who fled the country in the wake of the Vietnam War — and she became the first Hmong-American to represent the United States at the Olympics.
She was six when her parents signed her up for classes at Midwest Gymnastics Center in Little Canada, where she trained with the gym's owners and coaches Jess Graba and Alison Lim throughout her elite gymnastics career.
In August 2019, tragedy struck her family when her father, John, fell off a ladder while trimming a neighbor's tree branches, paralyzing himself from the waist down. He was still in the hospital when he insisted that she still compete in her first senior national championships days later.
Knowing her dad was watching on TV, a then 16-year-old Lee dominated the competition, finishing the all-around in second place finished behind Simone Biles and earning gold on uneven bars.
In 2020, Lee became depressed when the Olympics were postponed, and she even considered quitting gymnastics. When she finally got back to the gym, she broke her foot, setting her back. She also lost a beloved aunt and uncle who contracted COVID-19.
Lee has a total of 3.5 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, and social media posts are valued at $21,000 each, according to On3
The gold medalist has a number of big-name partnerships, including deals with Target, Amazon, and Gatorade
Despite her struggles, she became a household name after last year's Tokyo Olympics, where she won a gold medal in the women's gymnastics all-around final and helped Team USA take home silver.
Shortly after the Olympics, she went on to compete on season 30 of 'Dancing with the Stars,' where she finished
