Sabrina Stanley Signs OnlyFans Sponsorship Deal

Much has been said about it already. Sabrina herself hyped and preannounced a new mystery sponsor several weeks ago, which made internet sleuths dig into her account and try to decipher who it could be, and they were right. Today the announcement dropped to the press and general public:

Stanley is the first runner to join OnlyFans’ team of athletes, marking a significant moment as the platform continues to expand into the world of sports partnerships. The collaboration highlights OnlyFans’ commitment to supporting athletes who push the boundaries of performance and want to cultivate deeper connections with their fans.

We talked about this on ‘Media Pass’ today, (the episode that will drop later this week) but for now here are a couple points I made on air:

• If OnlyFans wants to “clean up their game” and become more Patreon than Porn Pay Per View time will give us an answer on how well this will go.
• If a non-endemic sponsor enters our trail space and possibly “ups the game” for all athletes, it might be a good thing.
• Several people have reported that her OnlyFans account so far doesn’t show much content that could give us a hint as to what subscribers can expect from her channel. This especially feels like a big marketing fail. Since this has been hyped weeks ago, the channel should’ve come preloaded with several content pieces giving day one subscribers an idea of what to expect, especially since many folks are hesitant to give the platform a try.
• As long as we don’t see any “special content” being filmed at trail races this sponsorship is probably not a big deal to the trail running community, as it just enables an athlete to make a living. This would be different if OnlyFans would sponsor an event or races series. Then the public would support and participate more directly with the brand, which some might find objectionable.

After the show I found this article from 2023 shared by David Callahan: “UCI Threatens to Ban Enduro Athlete Lewis Buchanan. Why? He’s Sponsored By OnlyFans“:

Earlier this year, OnlyFans signed their first UCI-level mountain bike athlete, Lewis Buchanan. The subscription service platform is known for their adult content, but they’ve recently been trying to expand their brand and user base by sponsoring athletes and artists. But the UCI isn’t having it.

So there is a potential that this sponsorship could have negative repercussions. For example, Hardrock could not let Stanley race anymore, given that Hardrock is a fundraiser for local high school students. (Stanley lives in Silverton and has previously won Hardrock back in 2018 and 2021.)

Clearly there will be a lot more ink and podcast bandwidth spilled on this in the coming weeks.