Sports stars are now more well known than ever before. The globalisation of many sports via digital and social media means athletes are now more recognisable and accessible than at any other time in history. With this level of recognition comes great commercial power, for not only are they widely known, but they are also generally liked and, for the most part, admired. Today's fans follow athletes as much as, if not more so, than clubs, teams and franchises. Their loyalties often lie with their favourite athletes rather than the teams they play for or the sports they play.

Australian resident and avid National Basketball Association (NBA) fan Ren Thompson is one such fan. According to Thompson,

But perhaps Thompson's younger brother is an even starker example of young fans following athletes more than teams.

The biggest sports stars across the world have social media followers that total into the tens of millions. The world's most famous soccer player, Cristiano Ronaldo, has a total of 208 million followers on Instagram, making him the most ‘followed’ athlete on the photo-based platform in the world. Other famous soccer players who also have over 100 million worldwide followers include Neymar (135 million) and Lionel Messi (145 million) (Bacon 2019). While athletes of the world-game have the greatest number of social media followers, athletes from a range of global sports have social media followers totalling tens of millions, including the NBA's LeBron James (61.8 million), cricket's Virat Kohli (52.1 million), MMA's Connor McGregor (35.7 million) and tennis legend Roger Federer (14.5 million) (Bacon 2019).