Los Angeles professional athletes are turning to OnlyFans

Elite girls athletes are juggling facet jobs and roommates to maintain tempo with the price of dwelling, significantly in Southern California, the place many seaside volleyball gamers practice and dwell.

Now, a rising quantity are turning to OnlyFans to shut the hole.

Professional seaside volleyball participant Avery Poppinga estimates she spends practically $50,000 a yr on flights, inns, teaching, health club memberships, and kit, largely out of her personal pocket, simply to proceed competing on the skilled stage.

Poppinga, who graduated from Loyola Marymount University, joined the subscription platform in 2024 after a fellow seaside volleyball professional urged it as a method to earn further earnings whereas she labored a distant job on the facet.

In February 2025, she signed an official sponsorship take care of the corporate by means of OFTV, OnlyFans’ safe-for-work streaming division. The settlement contains social media promotion, branded merchandise worn throughout tournaments, and video content material manufacturing.

OnlyFans, lengthy related to grownup leisure, has quietly expanded into sports activities sponsorships over the past two years.

The platform now works with roughly 285 skilled athletes, based on an organization spokesperson, together with rivals in browsing, speedskating, tennis, motorbike racing, bobsledding, ultrarunning, and cliff diving.

The firm says it’s particularly targeted on serving to athletes in area of interest sports activities the place conventional funding alternatives stay restricted.

That monetary pressure is particularly seen in seaside volleyball.

Despite being one of many Olympics’ most-watched occasions, the game receives little nationwide tv protection exterior the Games, limiting publicity and sponsorship income for gamers attempting to construct careers.

USA Volleyball reportedly gives stipends to solely its high 4 groups, leaving many athletes to finance the remaining themselves.

Poppinga’s OnlyFans presence now serves as a significant earnings stream. Her free web page has drawn greater than 17,000 followers, many funneled there by means of Instagram and OFTV promotions.

Subscribers on her VIP web page pay $9.97 monthly for unique bikini and lingerie content material together with direct messaging entry. After the platform takes its 20% minimize, the account generates a little bit over $2,500 month-to-month earlier than ideas and customized content material purchases.

Fellow seaside volleyball professional Falyn Fonoimoana says the economics of the game have pressured athletes into exhausting routines for years.

Even throughout profitable seasons, she says prize cash typically tops out between $20,000 and $30,000, a lot of which instantly goes towards journey and match bills.

The 34-year-old, born in Hermosa Beach, says she has labored as many as 4 jobs directly throughout her 14-year skilled profession whereas elevating a baby as a single mom.

“I should have been recovering and doing all the right things to make sure that my body was ready,” Fonoimoana told Front Office Sports. “Instead, I was working to make sure that I could pay rent and pay for my kid’s food.”

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Even with greater than 133,000 Instagram followers, Fonoimoana says model partnerships typically pay only a few hundred {dollars}. Some collaborations usher in $1,000 to $2,500, however many supply nearer to $500.

Last yr, she additionally signed a sponsorship settlement with OnlyFans.

Her content material focuses on health, exercise clips, and bikini images, and she or he describes herself as a “SFW worker,” that means safe-for-work and non-nude.

“We’re not wearing less than we were before,” she mentioned. “It’s the same exact uniform.”

Fonoimoana says inappropriate messages had been already widespread on Instagram lengthy earlier than she joined the platform.

“Of course,” she mentioned, there are “creepers,” however “at least they’re paying for the privilege.”

The platform’s affiliation with pornography has nonetheless created problems. Some sports activities governing our bodies have reportedly banned athletes from displaying the OnlyFans brand throughout competitions, and connections to the corporate could make conventional sponsorship negotiations tougher.

But for gamers struggling to outlive financially in one in all America’s most costly areas, the additional earnings can outweigh the stigma.

“Our sport needs a lot more exposure,” Poppinga mentioned. “Whatever people think about me representing [OnlyFans], it’s drawing more attention to the sport. So I feel like I’m doing some good.”