In April and May of this year, Olivia Dunne was back in the spotlight, where she always managed to shine. Fresh off her NCAA Championship win with the LSU Tigers, she was gearing up for a cozy off-season, with fans speculating about a fifth-year return by the gymnast. But then—boom!—her multimillion-dollar NIL deal with Passes catapulted her right back into the limelight. Since then, she’s returned to her gymnastics camp, all set to return a year five at LSU. And if that wasn’t enough, ON3.com has her sitting pretty at number two on their NIL list, making her the only female athlete in the top five!

But hold on—before you start wishing you were Livvy, the 22-year-old gymnast has a different take on all this glitz and glamour. In her latest documentary, she opened up about her mixed feelings about the whole deal.

The road to the bank comes through the rocky ground 

In the Amazon Prime-hosted The Money Game documentary series, Olivia Dunne opened up about the many twists and turns of NIL deals. In a standout moment during episode 5, the New Jersey native got candid about how college athletics has transformed over the years. With the Annual Bayou Traditions Gala at LSU as the perfect backdrop for some NIL chatter, Livvy took a moment to scale the differences in deals between then and now. She summed it up perfectly, saying, “Sometimes, it’s a blessing and a curse, sometimes.” As the camera zoomed in on her insightful words, it panned over to the glitz and glamour of the gala, and the real story was hiding in the words of two veteran athletes.

First up is Booger McFarland, the former LSU athlete who took center stage as the host of the gala. In his opening lines, the two-time Super Bowl champion couldn’t help but lament the absence of NIL deals during his playing days. Enter Ross Dellenger, the veteran journalist from Yahoo Sports, who reminisced about the days when athletes would receive bags full of cash from colleges, all in a bid to lure them to their programs.

As if on cue, an old recording of Eric Dickerson echoed through episode 5, revealing, “I received $25,000 to attend SMU.” The recording had Dickerson sharing that he’d received several similar offers from other schools. And this practice wasn’t legalized then. Fast forward to the introduction of NIL in 2021, and suddenly, those old disparities resurfaced, claiming colleges were still trying to entice athletes with lucrative deals.

But Olivia Dunne is having none of it. She’s made it clear that she’s not about that life. Instead, she dedicated her time to really understanding NIL deals and their implications. In one of her candid chats, Livvy shared some insights that showed she’s navigating this new landscape with her eyes wide open!

Olivia Dunne finally finds her place in the NIL deals 

With a $4M NIL valuation and 13.6M followers on social media, Olivia Dunne has set herself away from anyone’s reach. She is the only gymnast in the top 10 NIL valuation list. She is also the only woman athlete to make a place there! With such huge numbers, she can easily be touted as a professional in the NIL field. According to her, she is now a maestro! 

In her interaction with Flau’jae Johnson, the basketball player from the LSU Tigers, Dunne conceded, “I kind of I finally think I got it down and I think I understand it and balancing it with everything.” But at the same time, she admitted that for any newcomer, the process could be a hard subject to grab.

“I know at first how confusing that can be for a lot of especially girls, because there’s not a lot of NIL opportunities for the women’s athletics in the first place,” Olivia Dunne stated. Livvy’s on a mission to educate new athletes about the ins and outs of NIL deals so they can fully tap into the potential profits. However, she plans to dive deeper into these activities after she retires. For now, Livvy is focused on stacking up a few more dollars and ending year five with LSU in the most special way.