“Everyone watches women’s sports,” is the flavor of the season. However, despite the rising popularity of women’s sports, the pay disparity remains. In fact, it’s only the schools with sporting icons such as Jordan Chiles where things seem different. Among the twelve colleges that disclosed their athletes’ NIL earnings, men dominated sponsorship deals.

Even basketball, which is leading the women’s sports viewership revolution, remained behind by a wide margin. The Washington Post reported that across the dozen universities, men earned $92 million, compared to women’s $19 million. However, thanks to the Olympian, UCLA has become one of only two universities that’s broken the mold.

UCLA provided the data for how much their athletes earned from September 2021 to May 2024. During this period, Jordan Chiles boosted the university’s NIL earnings to $3.2 million. According to “NIL records obtained through state public records requests,” the Washington Post revealed that Chiles was part of the seven biggest deals that came UCLA gymnastics’ way.

Although UCLA didn’t provide every minute detail of how the Olympic gold medalist contributed, Chiles alone has been part of the NIL deals that generated $1.3 for UCLA women. Thanks to the two-time Olympic bronze medalist, the UCLA women had earned only $0.2 million shy of the men (who earned $3.4 million) before Chiles left UCLA to focus on her training for the 2024 Paris Olympics after the 2023 NCAA season. The good news? She’s confirmed she’ll be back at UCLA for the 2025 season. But let’s be real—Chiles didn’t do it all on her own!

The NIL earnings disclosure also hinted Tom Brady’s niece, Maya Brady, is among the big NIL earners, besides Jordan Chiles. That’s because NERF signed a five-figure deal with one of the university’s softball players. Meanwhile, Brady is the only UCLA softball player who has collaborated with NERF. 

Similarly, records showed UCLA basketball’s Kiki Rice advertised for a milk brand. The brand signed a six-figure contract with an undisclosed member of the UCLA Bruins. However, something that helped all three athletes was their social media presence. The only other athlete who had a similar impact on closing the earnings gap has a social media following of over 10 million.

The other gymnast who achieved what Jordan Chiles did

Louisiana State University was the only other school where the women earned close to men. From August 2022 to February 2024, women under the NIL umbrella earned $10.2 million, compared to $12 million for men. The numbers could be skewed heavily in favor of LSU’s popular basketball team, with stars such as Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson. However, none would’ve had a bigger impact than Olivia Dunne.

With 13.6 million followers across all social media platforms, Livvy Dunne alone has earned around $9.5 million from NIL deals, according to Sports Illustrated. Now returning for a fifth season, the 21-year-old is looking to earn even more. “I mean, brands do like that I’m a student-athlete. I won’t lie,” Dunne revealed in The Money Game.

Similarly, Jordan Chiles is also returning to UCLA after earning the team all-around gold in Paris. While the bronze medal controversy remains unresolved, the gymnast’s brand value has only increased. Besides the gold medal, Chiles continues to promote brands and even made her runway debut at the 2024 New York Fashion Week. So while pay disparity remains an issue, stars such as Chiles and Dunne have given fans and fellow athletes a glimpse into what the future could hold for women in sports.