Medals draw a crowd. Candor keeps one. Harper-Nelson urged storytellers to look past the victory lap.

Pitkofsky raised another shift: Athletes now reach fans directly, no intermediary required. Harper-Nelson has felt the difference firsthand.

“You can truly create a community that can feel like family on social media,” Harper-Nelson said.

Ownership can turn athletes into builders

Ohanian thinks ATHLOS could be a model for women’s sports. The all-women’s professional track and field league Ohanian founded pays real prize money and hands athletes equity that grows with its success.

“I want our best athletes to act like owners and feel like owners and be owners,” he said.

And in many ways, these athletes are more important than owners, like Ohanian.

“No one is showing up at ATHLOS to watch me. It is the athletes first and foremost who drive outsized value to these organizations,” he said. “I think that somehow it got lost traditionally in sports, and we have a chance to get it right now with women.”