The Money Game: LSU

The Money Game: LSU is a six-part documentary series that premiered on Amazon Prime Video on September 10, 2024, following six Louisiana State University student-athletes through the 2023-24 athletic season as they navigate name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights, the NCAA policy change that first allowed college athletes to earn money from endorsements.^{1 • 2}

The featured athletes

The six athletes profiled occupy very different positions in the NIL economy, and the series uses that range to show how unevenly the new rules distribute opportunity.¹

• Olivia "Livvy" Dunne, a gymnast, was among the most followed student athletes in the world, with more than 8 million TikTok followers and 5 million on Instagram. She signed a multi-million dollar deal with the platform Passes in May 2024 and says in the trailer that July 1, 2021, the day the NIL rule changed, was "the day my life changed."⁹
• Angel Reese, the 2023 Women's Basketball Final Four Most Outstanding Player, had nearly $2 million in brand deals across 2022 and 2023 with partners including Reebok, Calvin Klein, Outback Steakhouse, and JanSport. She was drafted by the Chicago Sky in the first round of the 2024 WNBA Draft.^{9 • 10}
• Jayden Daniels, the LSU quarterback, won the Heisman Trophy during the season the series covers and was drafted No. 2 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft by the Washington Commanders. He said he was more interested in his professional career than his NIL prospects as a college athlete.¹
• Flau'jae Johnson, a women's basketball guard and rapper, held endorsement deals with Amazon, Puma, JBL Audio, and Intuit TurboTax.¹
• Alia Armstrong, a hurdler on the track and field team, had far less NIL success despite being one of the top student track athletes in the world, with about 49,500 Instagram followers; the series shows her frustration at being a prominent LSU name without comparable earnings.^{1 • 11}
• Trace Young, a men's basketball guard, initially wanted NIL money for food as a struggling student and later signed deals with Snickers, Mercedes, and Nerf; he played only two games during his senior season at LSU.^{1 • 11}

The NIL operation at LSU

A substantial part of the series examines the university's own NIL infrastructure rather than only the athletes. LSU's athletic department, operating on a $199 million budget and described as the only Power Four athletic department in Louisiana, staffed a dedicated NIL office run like a business development operation servicing the school's more than 600 athletes.^{11 • 12} Taylor Jacobs, LSU's Associate Athletic Director of NIL Strategy Initiatives, frames the choice facing athletes in the series: "You don't have to play the money game, but if you want to capitalize during your time as a student-athlete, you can do that."¹²

Episode 5, "The Bag Man," examines the role of booster collectives, organized groups of wealthy alumni that have made previously informal payments to athletes businesslike. Mackenzie Landry, a consultant for the Bayou Traditions Collective, says in the series, "You're buying a team." Personal injury lawyer Gordon McKernan, a recurring figure, describes the NIL landscape as a "bubble" in which schools with deep-pocketed boosters will dominate.¹¹

Reception and aftermath

The series reached No. 2 on Amazon Prime within a week of release, and in April 2025 it was nominated for Outstanding Documentary Series at the 46th Sports Emmy Awards.^{6 • 4} Reviewers noted both its access and its promotional character: Common Sense Media called it "a promotional vehicle for the LSU Athletic Department, which is trying to establish itself as a leading NIL program to attract new talent," while also crediting it with a detailed look at the challenges and benefits of NIL.¹³

The season captured in the series turned out to be a defining one for the athletes it followed: when it concluded, Dunne had helped LSU's gymnastics squad capture its first national title, Reese departed for the WNBA, and Daniels won the Heisman Trophy and was selected in the first round of the NFL draft.⁵ The finale teases the next stage of the transformation, decisions allowing colleges to share revenue directly with their athletes.⁵

References

1. Everything you need to know about Prime Video's new docuseries 'The Money Game: LSU', About Amazon
2. The Money Game, Campfire Studios
3. The Money Game: LSU, Season 1, TheTVDB.com
4. NIL documentary featuring LSU athletes nominated for Sports Emmy, Louisiana Sports
5. Review: "The Money Game" leads viewers on LSU athletes' whirlwind NIL explosion, Axios New Orleans
6. The Brand, LSUsports.net
7. How The Money Game showcases LSU's Angel Reese, Jayden Daniels, ClutchPoints interview with Drea Cooper
8. Olivia Dunne, Angel Reese and LSU athletes to star in new docuseries on Prime Video, Axios
9. 'The Money Game': What We Know About New Livvy Dunne, Angel Reese Docuseries, Forbes
10. Watch trailer for "The Money Game," LSU's new streaming series on Prime Video, Axios New Orleans
11. Amazon Prime Video's 'The Money Game' shows new cost of college athletics, Awful Announcing
12. New from Axios: The Money Game, Axios
13. The Money Game, Parents' Guide & TV Review, Common Sense Media

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026

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