LSU Athletics hosted an exclusive premiere of the new Amazon Prime documentary “The Money Game” on Wednesday in the PMAC. The documentary follows how name, image and likeness have impacted LSU athletes.
Students were invited to attend for free to view the first episode of the six-part series several days before its official release date on Sept. 10.
Four LSU athletes featured in the series appeared on Wednesday to walk the red carpet and speak to media, including gymnast Olivia “Livvy” Dunne, women’s basketball player Flau’jae Johnson, track and field hurdler Alia Armstrong and men’s basketball player Trace Young.
After the screening of the first episode, the athletes participated in a Q&A.
“It just made me so happy to be at LSU,” Johnson said of her reaction to viewing the documentary. “I always tell people I bleed purple and gold.”
The documentary also follows former LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and women’s basketball star Angel Reese, highlighting their roads from LSU to the pros.
Shaquille O’Neal, NBA legend and former LSU basketball player, was an executive producer on the series.
Modern student-athletes have a difficult situation to navigate, having to balance school, athletics and brand deals.
“There definitely is pressure at times,” Dunne said of how NIL affects her. “But pressure is a privilege, and I’m so blessed to be in the position that I’m in right now.”
Especially for lesser-known athletes who have to seek out their own opportunities, LSU’s NIL department is extremely valuable.
“They’ve had the opportunity to learn a ton in this space, which has been great,” said Taylor Jacobs, associate AD of NIL and strategic initiatives. “They’re learning how to manage a business. They’re learning how to manage their bank account, and I think it’s been a great opportunity for them to figure all that out.”
Both Dunne and Johnson noted that NIL is especially important for women, who don’t have as many profitable pro-league opportunities.
“I don’t have a $30-million contract waiting on me in the WNBA,” Johnson said. “As women… we have to seize the opportunity, we have to do it while we’re here.”
College athletics changed forever when the national governing body of collegiate sports adopted the NIL policy, allowing athletes to make money off their brand.
LSU was one of the first universities to truly embrace NIL. It created NILSU, and athletes, like those shown in the series, have skyrocketed with their social media fame.
Now, NIL is three years old, and this documentary has been in the works for around two years, Jacobs shared.
“People hear a lot of things, they read a lot of things, but being able to have a doc team follow around athletes and really dive deeper into the NIL story will be exciting for fans to see and respond to,” Jacobs said.
The makers of the documentary were granted exclusive access behind the scenes of LSU Athletics, following select athletes during the 2023-24 school year. The show peels back the curtains and makes these stars feel like regular college students.
“It was really odd, because they’d just be filming everything, like filming me do laundry,” Young said of the experience.
Armstrong also shared how this documentary process was hard for her.
“It was tough… But my goal was to just broadcast me as a person at my lowest and highest,” she explained.
As exciting as the expanding NIL opportunities are for college athletes everywhere, Dunne and company know that the brand at LSU gives them one of the best platforms out there.
“Not only are the athletes great, the school just has swag,” Dunne said.
