Interesting article on making $ in "niche" sports

[westcoast]

The Rise of the $10 Million Disc Golf Celebrity

How much can athletes really make in niche sports? A whole lot more than you might think. Disc golfer Paul McBeth set a new standard by signing an eight-figure endorsement contract—and his deal might only be the beginning.

www.theringer.com

interesting excerpts:

“I think about it as a three-step funnel,” says Li Jin, the founder of the digital marketing platform Atelier Ventures who coined the term “Passion Economy” to describe how influencers monetize social media. The first step is to attract a big audience on a known platform, like Instagram or Twitter. The second is to bring them to a platform the influencer owns, such as a newsletter or podcast. The final step is to turn people into paying customers. “That,” she says, “is how influencers turn social capital into financial capital.”

“In niche sports, social media is 10 times—maybe 100 times—more important to an athlete than it is in mainstream sports,” Belmonte says. “Mainstream sports stars get constant TV coverage. They’re in people’s faces all the time. If you’re in a niche sport, you have to tell people what you have coming up and what you’ve achieved. You want people to feel like they’re a part of this journey.”