It’s no secret that professional athletes earn crazy large sums of money in the United States. It’s the big dream of every little kid who discovers that they’re good at dribbling a basketball. Get discovered in high school, get paid to play for a college team, get drafted to an NBA team, and make the big bucks so that you can buy that indoor pool with a twisty slide that you’ve been dreaming about since age 7.
Imagine achieving that dream, and then learning that models on OnlyFans are out-earning you by quite a bit.
Now let’s set aside the idea that you’re an NBA star— although if any of the San Antonio Spurs are reading this *tucks hair behind ear* hi!— and accept the reality that you’re probably a regular scroller of social media.
Here’s the TL;DR: OnlyFans out-earned NBA players by more than a few zeros in 2023. Collectively, NBA players made $4.9 billion. OnlyFans models? Altogether, they made $6.6 billion. That is not a small chunk of change.
Now… how does it sit with you to know that adult content creators made more than your favorite NBA superstars last year? Because several social media commenters had some FEELINGS about NBA players collectively not making as much as OnlyFans content creators.
Honestly, unless you have some sort of stake in either industry, you really shouldn’t feel any sort of way about what is being earned in either, so long as everyone is being fairly compensated for their work.
Regardless of the way people feel about a platform that is largely made up of sex workers out-earning professional athletes; the digital creator economy has forever changed the way people approach their career path.
Go with me on a journey for a moment, won’t you?
How do OnlyFans models earn their income? They pose. They take videos and pictures. They’re putting together sets, adjusting the lighting, editing footage. Each of these roles are jobs typically done by professional set designers, lighting designers, video editors, directors of photography, and so on. People buy access to their image. It’s selling the illusion of having access to their bodies.
How do NBA players earn their money? They work their bodies to exhaustion playing a highly athletic game in front of a live audience. They have to attend workouts and trainings in order to do what they do, and the parasocial relationships that they have with their fans is a part of the job that they do. They’re also selling the illusion of access to their bodies.
What’s the difference, aside from the uniforms?
NBA players have contracts that they have to honor, and games they have to show up for. They have to rely on managers to negotiate their contracts and have to show up to training and team practice. They have to actually play the game, and interact with players on the other side of the court, regardless of whether or not they have a positive relationship with their opponent. Also, the audience? It’s right there. They can definitely hear it when someone chooses to shout insults from the stands.
OnlyFans models are fully in control of the work that they do. They aren’t relying on a coach— unless they’re paying one to help them with… whatever they feel they need coaching on. They get to set their hours, they can record their footage hours in advance of when they need to post it. They’re on their own team, so there’s never any risk of being traded to another team. And their audience? They get to choose at what level they engage with them. Don’t feel like hearing that someone doesn’t like their eyebrows? Cool, they just don’t read the comments that day.
Both OnlyFans content creators and NBA players are entertainers, doing it all for the applause. Both industries fare better when the entertainers that drive consumer spending remain relatively visible.
Are there income inconsistencies within both industries?
Absolutely. LeBron James and Corinna Kopf are making way more money the average ball player or new content creator.
The point here, is that if you’re feeling some sort of way about OnlyFans models out-earning your favorite NBA stars? Maybe poke those feelings with a stick, and remind yourself that both industries have crowds of people handing over fistfuls of cash for the pleasure of being able to watch their work.
…and maybe, just maybe; check your sexism.
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