IWhile the International Olympic Committee (IOC) distributes 90% of its revenues toward “the development of sport and athletes,” elite competitors still find themselves scraping by on stipends that can’t cover rent in nearly any major city, leading many sports figures to find alternative forms of revenue.
OnlyFans has become one of the most reliable sponsors in professional athletics due to the struggle. Speedskaters, bobsledders, cliff divers, surfers, motorcycle racers, runners, tennis players and more are now on the platform with new users increasing steadily. An OnlyFans spokesperson tells Front Office Sports that about 285 professional athletes currently use the platform. And the number keeps climbing.
The economics of why are not complicated. In the UK, the highest level of sponsorship available to elite athletes amounts to roughly $38,000 a year. Kurts Adams Rozentals, a British canoeist who won silver at the U23 World Canoe Slalom Championships in 2023, says that Paddle UK’s World Class program grants athletes £16,000 annually.
“I don’t know how much you need,” he told BBC Sport, “but it’s certainly not £16,000.” He opened an OnlyFans account in January 2025, made £100,000 in five months, and was suspended from competing by Paddle UK in April. He was removed from the lottery-funded program meant to put him on the path to the Olympics, pending an investigation into his social media posts. His younger brother, Klass Francisks Rozentals, had already done the math a year earlier, joining OnlyFans to cover the six-figure cost of a four-year Olympic cycle after bartending and construction work interfered with his training schedule.
The governing body framed the suspension not as disciplinary, but as an “interim action designed to protect all parties.” Kurts, for his part, told the BBC he was being forced to choose between his Olympic dream and his OnlyFans account.
Similarly, cricket player Tymal Mills was blocked from putting the OnlyFans logo on his bat in England and Wales, citing concerns about the platform’s reputation; while the NHRA banned an OnlyFans-sponsored racer’s branding entirely during competition. The Union Cycliste Internationale has done the same for cyclists.
British Olympic diver Jack Laugher, who medaled at both the Tokyo and Paris Games, described his OnlyFans account, which costs $10 a month for content that he characterized as “SFW,” as “an absolute lifeline” after sponsorship money dried up following the Tokyo games.
Canadian pole vaulter Alysha Newman, who took bronze at Paris 2024, used the platform to generate more than $230,000 for her Olympic training, while former speed skating champion Elise Christie, who won 30 international gold medals throughout her career, said it helped her survive a difficult period after retirement. “I was in a bad place when I came out of the sport,” she told The Guardian.
When asked by the Associated Press about athletes turning to OnlyFans, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said, “I would assume that athletes, like all citizens, are allowed to do what they can.”
OnlyFans says it is “especially passionate about creating opportunities for athletes in smaller or niche sports, where funding and audience-building opportunities can often be more limited.”
Rozentals’ ban from Paddle UK, notably, seems to have done the opposite of what was intended. The publicity surrounding it boosted his subscriber count, and in the four weeks after the suspension made headlines, he reportedly earned an additional $135,000.
For female athletes, charges that OnlyFans’ objectifies women and undermines women’s sports are mostly made by people unconcerned about the objectification built into women’s sports coverage, sponsorship, and media treatment at the institutional level. The same sports establishment expressing concern about the dignity of women athletes is the one that spent decades underpaying them.
