Earlier in the year, NBA stars LeBron James and Steph Curry were in China on solo tours, with James's trip done with main sponsor Nike and labeled 'The Forever King Tour'.

Brands in sport are not new. Fred Perry clothing was created by the British tennis player in the 1950s. Air Jordan entered the picture with basketball star Michael Jordan in 1984. But in the modern era, the examples are far more common, with many athletes looking to create a brand early on in their career. Beyond the desire to give back and inspire the next generation, the recent spate of solo tours is also an insight into the importance of branding in sports.

"It's not entirely new, but I think where the novelty comes in is that over the last decade, maybe a little bit more than that, the meaning of the athlete brand has really expanded," Nataliya Bredikhina told DW. Bredikhina is an assistant professor of Sport Management at the University of Delaware, US and specializes in personal branding in professional sports.

Virtual world tours
 

"The athlete is more than just a competitor or the labor on the field, but I feel like it wasn't until really the emergence of social media and technologies that the boundaries of what the athlete is really transcended," said Bredikhina, who added that athlete tours, shows and promotions are becoming more common.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Messi and his team are ahead of the curve. They created the Messi Experience, an interactive multimedia exhibit that allows fans to follow the football great's career despite the Argentinean not being present. The show is currently on a world tour and has been in Los Angeles, Dubai and Sao Paulo. While these ideas might only make sense for the true greats, Bredikhina believes it is a sign of things to come because of something called the 'King's Two Bodies' theory.

"In the past it was developed to primarily focus on politicians, but I think in recent years, this is very much applied to celebrities in general and athletes in particular, where we feel like there is this living person, there is this human, and then there is this brand that expands and becomes bigger than them," Bredikhina said.

Brands that transcend feels like the kind of marketing speak that might leave more people mystified than engaged. But there are enough examples in the sports world that prove this theory is now very much a reality.

"Roger Federer, with all his ventures growing, is a great example, but Leo Messi right now with him being like at a mature stage of his career, I think it's a great time for something like this," said Bredikhina, noting that investing early in this concept aids transitions out of sport for many athletes.

The future of sports branding
 

One of the most intriguing aspects of increased sports branding is what it says about fan engagement. On the surface, it feels obvious that people will connect to other people more easily than organizations. But people also need to belong to a group, so why does it feel like the focus on the individual is greater than before?

Bredikhina believes the combination of increased social media consumption and younger audiences leaning more towards highlights than watching full games, either on television or in person, is part of the reason why the culture is shifting more towards the individual. After all, there must also be a reason why Cristiano Ronaldo has over 660 million followers on Instagram, while his former club and the 15-time Champions League winners Real Madrid have fewer followers across all of their social media channels.

"Maybe we're moving towards a more individualistic culture," Bredikhina said. "Maybe it's that idea that everybody is an influencer in a way. No matter how many followers you have, you are impacting someone, you are broadcasting your life to someone. So maybe this is kind of the mentality that we start to get, particularly among the younger generations."

A trend for all levels
 

This shift is not only reflected in consumption habits but also in the ever-growing influencer market. College athletes are considering how to brand themselves very early on.

"I think if the goal is to impact the community, athletes at different levels can engage with that," Bredikhina said. "Some athletes will only have a couple of thousand followers on social media, so it's nothing in comparison to those mega celebrities that they're seeing, but they're still able to build a brand, they're still able to monetize it even through smaller sponsorships."

This is perhaps best reflected in the impact of NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) deals in college sports, and how social media following is impacting team recruitment. The business is inescapable, and the emotional strain for those managing their own accounts is tricky. But the goal is built on a familiar psychological premise.

"Even at that level, branding is not easy. What they're saying sometimes helps them overcome the nastiness of social media. It is that belief that they are impacting people. They're telling their story of overcoming, they're teaching younger athletes what the reality could be like if they reach college."

Ultimately, Messi, James and Curry's tours remind us that the game is changing. Get ready for virtual reality and AI assistants as the customized fan experience reaches a whole new level. The brand of the athlete has never been stronger. As Bredikhina argued: "Right now the athlete isn't just an endorser, they're definitely a partner to those brands and someone who brings a lot to the table."