The Coronavirus pandemic has taken the sports world by storm, and athletes now have an unprecedented amount of time on their hands leading to an increase in the number of athletes on TikTok. Some are taking on new hobbies -see Giannis Antetokounmpo learning the guitar and Cody Zeller learning to cook and play the guitar (well, trying to). Some are doing their best to stay in shape at home- nice setup, Serge Ibaka! But most of all, athletes are more active and engaging on social media than ever before. The most interesting takeaway from this uptick in social media activity has been the increase in athletes on TikTok.

For brands evaluating new marketing channels today, a big question is whether to go with an influencer marketing agency or an influencer marketing platform.

Many of our clients call us the influencer marketing platform for athletes / sports, and given that about 80% of our deals involve athletes posting on social media, and about 60% of our deals only involve social media content ... I'd say that we are definitely a good solution for influencer marketing managers looking to engage athletes within their marketing channels. 

Technology: Mankind's best friend

Crafting and innovating are two of the many unique qualities of mankind. We built cudgels and spears to defend ourselves against wildlife. Then, we started crafting and building to improve our daily lives. Today, as many of us strive for athletic excellence, science and technology come together to help us fulfill our goals and dreams. In this article we will focus on some key football technology which could shape the future of the game.

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jason Severiano Lampkin - that's me in the picture above - and I'm one of the new interns here at OpenSponsorship. Though many - if not all of you - will never have even heard of me, there once was a time when people thought the world would never forget my name. Instead, I became the man that many never even get the chance to know.

Last week, we helped one of our brands (Trago) work with one of our athletes (Amanda Ruller) for an amazing social media post.

Manchester City's 2007/08 season started with new owner Thaksin Shinawatra splurging £30 million by adding eight relatively high-profile players to the first team squad. The main source of the funds? The Thai billionaire businessman's bulging wallet. Sure, the teams sponsorship agreements helped, but secondary shirt sleeve sponsorship, which would have added another stream of income, hadn't even been considered. In fact, the idea hadn't even been considered in the entire soccersphere.

Looking to make a quick buck? All you have to do is create a sport, and have it become America’s greatest past time. Sounds easy right? The MLB as a whole is thriving when it comes to sponsorship revenues. In 2016 it was estimated that sponsorship dollars from the top 9 companies involved with the MLB would reach $360-400 million. This number is solely league revenue and does not include individual team and stadium/property sponsorship. When adding those categories to the grand total, it is estimated sponsorship revenues would reach nearly $800 million by the end of the 2016 season.

Don’t have a budget to work with professional athletes? Don’t have a marketing budget, period? This is where micro-influencer marketing comes in handy. Let’s get you the most bang for your buck with athlete sponsorships. Sounds too good to be true or confused how we do so? Let me explain.

Twitter is one of, if not the most popular way for fans and players alike to engage with each other. As a work week wrap-up, we're going to give you a look at some funny tweets our athletes have had with OpenSponsorship's Twitter MVP's of the Week.