‘You get what you see.’ Kentucky track star pairs blazing speed with lucrative NIL deals.
Trying to keep up with Masai Russell feels like an impossible task.
The senior Kentucky track and field athlete is a star on and off the track, with a dedicated social media following and budding personal brand supplementing her dazzling track career.
First, let’s establish that Masai Russell is fast.
A perennial All-American in both the indoor 4-by-400-meter relay and the indoor 60-meter hurdles, Russell has helped rewrite the record book at UK.
In her senior season alone, Russell has been part of a school record 4-by-400 relay time while also running a sub-eight seconds time (7.93) in the 60-meter hurdles for the first time in her career.
Russell is now the second-fastest 60-meter hurdler of all time at UK, having passed Olympic gold medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn for the second spot.
Now, let’s establish that Russell has incredible national and global reach through social media.
Russell has more than 444,000 followers on TikTok and more than 167,000 followers on Instagram, the kind of social media reach that sends plenty of name, image and likeness opportunities her way as part of the new reality for prominent college student-athletes.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Herald-Leader done in January, Russell recalled when she first realized that NCAA athletes in Kentucky would be allowed to benefit and profit from NIL, starting last July.
Earlier this month, the Kentucky Senate voted unanimously to pass a measure, Senate Bill 6, regulating NIL compensation for college athletes, after the measure was endorsed by UK men’s basketball coach John Calipari and UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart.
“I didn’t believe that it was true because it’s been in the works for so long. So I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, yes. Let me get started.’ I always received a whole bunch of emails about who wanted to promote their products and things like that, but I would always ignore them,” Russell said. “It was really mind blowing to see all the emails of companies that I was using and things like that and I’m like, ‘Oh wow, this is about to be the real deal.’”
As Russell describes it, the process of forming NIL partnerships consisted of her reading emails and participating in Zoom video calls.
But her social media fame, and the resulting monetary benefit from it, wasn’t something she ever planned.
“It was super organic. I had a little bit of followers in high school (in Maryland) before I came to Kentucky and then I think that people are just attracted to college athletes,” Russell said. “None of this was ever planned, so I just really think this is meant for me and it’s my calling because I love what I do on and off the track. It’s a lot, but I love it 100%.”
A glance at Russell’s Instagram and TikTok reveals sponsored posts from the likes of Bellabeat (wellness company), Champs Sports (sports apparel), Eastbay Run Club (athletics event), Hulu (streaming platform), Rowdy Energy (energy drink developed in part by NASCAR driver Kyle Busch) and ThirdLove (lingerie).
Russell enjoys the ability to connect with her supporters through social media, as well as being able to showcase her different personalities on and off the track.
“I feel like it’s just important that people know just who I am, as just the influencer and as an athlete,” Russell said. “I just love that I’m able to connect with people in two different ways.”
An average day for Russell includes track meetings, practices and workouts, classes, meetings related to NIL ventures and time spent creating content for her social channels.
“It’s super busy, it can get a little stressful at times just because I have to deliver certain things for certain brands and I’m working with a good amount of people and responding and talking to a lot of people on a daily basis. So sometimes it can get a little overwhelming,” Russell said. “I just don’t think that the average person would really understand unless I like literally write it down and tell them verbatim what I have to do throughout the day.”
Russell’s distinct NIL deals
One of Russell’s most distinct NIL partnerships is with WWE: World Wrestling Entertainment.
In December, the WWE launched an NIL program called “Next In Line.” According to WWE, the program “aims to enhance the talent development process through collaborative partnerships with college athletes from diverse athletic backgrounds.”
In essence, the program helps streamline the process for current college athletes who one day might be interested in joining WWE.
Athletes who take part in the program have access to the WWE’s performance center in Orlando, Fla., as well as to resources in the WWE organization that include brand building, media training, communications, live event promotion, creative writing and community relations.
Russell said that while she’s not a huge wrestling fan, the ability to be part of a global brand like WWE presented a great opportunity for her.
“They were super excited to have me on board and I was like, ‘Why not?’” Russell, who will be flying to Texas in early April for WrestleMania, said. “They’re going to be showing me the behind the scenes of like how the production is run. Just if I want to be in that space, in that workplace, when I get older … and then if I want to be a WWE athlete after my pro career, after my track career is over, then I’ll already have a foot in the door ahead of just a regular person.”
Another one of Russell’s NIL partnerships has allowed her to even more directly connect with fans.
Russell is partnered with Linktree as part of the linking platform’s inaugural class of NIL college athletes.
As part of this, Russell offered her social media followers the chance to design part of her first merchandise line, with the winner receiving $1,000 and several merchandise pieces.
According to Linktree, Russell has the largest social media following of any UK athlete.
Why does Russell think her hundreds of thousands of followers are interested enough to buy her merchandise and keep up with her daily?
“I’m really upfront about just me and my life. I feel like I don’t really hide anything. I’m really open on social media and I think that’s the reason why a lot of individuals connect with me,” Russell explained. “I am who I am. Like, I’m Masai, this is what you get (and) you get what you see.”
Why wouldn’t you use them?
Russell knows both the value Kentucky has played in her NIL and social media success, and the need for her to maximize her value as a standout athlete at a Southeastern Conference school.
In December, it was announced that The Virtus Brand — an independent player management company — partnered with an organization called “The Big Blue Legacy” to manage a fund to which NIL funds will be allocated “with the goal of creating a marketplace” supporting athletes in all UK sports.
This means NIL opportunities for UK athletes will probably soon become more lucrative and easier to obtain.
This month, Barnhart — the UK athletics director — said that since July, there have been 800 NIL transactions among 250 UK athletes.
But those NIL transactions aren’t evenly spread out among Kentucky’s 23 varsity athletics teams.
UK softball head coach Rachel Lawson said this month that NIL opportunities haven’t hit the sport of softball, or the UK softball team, as much as they will in the future.
During UK women’s basketball media day in October, Kentucky head coach Kyra Elzy described UK as being “cutting edge” when it comes to the development of athlete branding.
Russell’s success in the NIL space, especially in a non-revenue sport, might be an outlier for now, but Russell continues to prioritize creating an authentic experience for her fans while making sure she receives the correct value for her services.
“We’re here, we’re doing them a job. So why wouldn’t we kind of pull the straw out of them just as much as they are for us?” Russell said. “Get what you can get out of it within the four or five years that you’re here … because a school, (the) NCAA, is going to use you as an athlete. So why wouldn’t you use them?”
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
