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LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne is one of the top influencers in all of college sports with a net worth to match.
Dubbed “the most followed NCAA athlete on social media,” Dunne has amassed almost 11 million followers on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.
This despite the fact that due to assorted injuries she only just competed for the first time this year in the Tigers’ ninth meet of the season.
@livvy back to business:) #foryou #lsu #gymnastics
Livvy, as she is called, has managed to put together a Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) portfolio worth millions of dollars despite still being being only 20-years-old. (Dunne was born on October 1st, 2002.)
How Olivia Dunne Makes Her Money
Until the NCAA changed its rules regarding athletes being allowed to earn money on their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) on June 30, 2021, Dunne was just another college athlete with a lot of social media followers.
In July of 2021, Olivia signed with Endeavor Talent Agency’s WME Sports, and everything changed, especially her net worth.
According to the website on3.com which tracks college athletes’ finances, Olivia Dunne is the top female NIL earner in all of college sports.
Livvy’s annual NIL valuation currently sits at $3.4 million, putting her behind only Bronny James, Arch Manning and Mikey Williams.
With almost 360 million likes on TikTok, Dunne has been able to turn that popularity into sponsorship deals with Body Armor, ESPN, Leaf Trading Cards, Forever 21, Grubhub, Linktree, American Eagle Outfitters, Too Faced Cosmetics, nate, PlantFuel, Bartleby, and Vuori.
The website Betsperts claims Olivia Dunne earns between $31,900 and $43,200 for each sponsored Instagram post.
Why is Olivia Dunne So Famous?
The 5-foot-6 junior, who lives in Hillsdale, New Jersey when she isn’t attending LSU as a communication studies major, was the youngest athlete in the country to qualify as a Jr. International Elite in gymnastics, according to Dunne’s website.
In 2017, Olivia represented the United States National Team in Italy at the Jesolo Trophy competition where her junior team won the gold All Around medal.
Dunne says her social media presence really skyrocketed during the pandemic of 2020.
“I was quarantined in Florida and I just started making content at the beach, doing flips and filming it. My videos started to get on the ‘for you’ page [on Instagram] a lot more, so more people saw them … and it took off,” Dunne told the New York Post in 2021. “Then I went to LSU and the Louisiana following — they’re the best.”
It also didn’t hurt that when the NIL rule change happened LSU purchased a billboard in Times Square with her Instagram account displayed on it.
Since then, Dunne made her gymnastics debut for LSU in 2021 and earned WCGA All-American honors for her performances on the uneven bars. She also earned Academic All-American honors and was a member of the First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll.
During her sophomore season in 2022, Olivia was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
In 2023, despite not competing until the ninth meet of LSU’s gymnastics season, special security has been required to follow the team due to the throngs of fans attending their meets just to get a glimpse of Olivia Dunne.
This is actually so scary and disturbing and cringey. I’m embarrassed for them… pic.twitter.com/h23bBdBQ9B
— Samantha Peszek (@samanthapeszek) January 8, 2023
“I will always appreciate and love the support from you guys, but if you come to a meet, I want to ask you to please be respectful of the other gymnasts and the gymnastics community as we are just doing our job,” Olivia Dunne tweeted after things got out of hand at LSU’s first meet of the year.
Now that’s Olivia is back actually competing in LSU’s gymnastics meets the crowds will no doubt only get bigger.