Contested
INITIALIZING
Contested × OCSC
31 Athletes.198,600+ Views.6.1% Engagement.
How Contested turned Orange County Soccer Club's matchdays into a content engine powered by local college athletes.
Campaign in progress. Results through 5 activations to date.
Athletes
——
In-Stadium
Matchday
Athlete POV
Carolyna
OCSCFeatured Reel
Michelle
Campus Cut
Karan
Views
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Scroll to explore
Campaign Metrics
The numbers
speak for
themselves.
Through 5 activations and 31 unique athletes, here's what the campaign has delivered so far.
01
0
Athletes Activated
02
0
Views
03
0
Avg Engagement
04
0
Assets Shared
05
0
Engagement Lift
06
0
Activations
And counting.
FullStadiumsDon'tBuildThemselves
Orange County sits in one of the densest college markets on the West Coast. UC Irvine is five minutes from Championship Soccer Stadium, and more than a dozen campuses, including Cal State Fullerton, Chapman, Concordia, Saddleback, and Irvine Valley College, fall within a short drive, serving nearly 200,000 students in total. But proximity alone wasn't converting students into fans.
OCSC needed a way to reach students who don't respond to traditional sports marketing. Ticket promos and stadium signage don't move people who aren't already in the funnel. What does move them is seeing someone they recognize, an athlete from their own campus, show up in their feed.
The Goal
Build a student fanbase and drive awareness and engagement through voices that already had credibility with the target audience.
The Approach
Athletes as the Distribution Channel
Phase 1 of 3
Before the Match
Athletes posted stories inviting their followers to come to the game. No scripts, no corporate copy. Just a real person telling their audience where they'd be that weekend.
Phase 2 of 3
At the Match
Athletes attended with groups of friends, checked in with the OCSC operations team, and posted in-stadium content: the atmosphere, the crowd, the experience.
Phase 3 of 3
After the Match
Athletes published feed posts (Reels, carousels, TikToks) that lived permanently on their profiles, extending the content's shelf life well beyond game day.
The Rotation Multiplier
Rather than running the same five athletes every week, Contested cycled 31 unique athletes across 5 activations. Each new athlete brought an entirely new audience. Compounding views instead of diminishing returns.
Contested managed the full operation: sourcing, vetting, NIL contracting, creative briefing, day-of logistics, payments, content collection, and reporting. OCSC's only lift: providing tickets and a day-of contact.
The Content
Real Athletes.
Real Content.
Every piece of content was created by the athletes themselves. No scripts, no production crews. Authentic posts from real matchday experiences.
Drag The Dome
A curved gallery of athlete-shot OCSC content. Drag to rotate through the campaign and tap any frame to bring it forward.
Interactive Content Gallery
All content created and posted organically by athletes on their personal profiles. 31 athletes across UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, and other Orange County campuses.
Why It Works
TrustCompounded.
Traditional influencer campaigns buy views. This model buys trust.
Every athlete on the roster has a real, organic relationship with their followers. When a UC Irvine volleyball player tells her audience to come to an OCSC match, that carries weight that no paid ad can replicate.
Roster rotation is the multiplier. One athlete posts to 12,000 followers. Five athletes post to 60,000. But running the same five every week means hitting the same 60,000 with diminishing impact. By rotating 31 unique athletes, Contested drove 198,600+ views at 6.1% average engagement, and kept the campaign output moving with 137 shared assets.
The content itself is authentic and low-production by design. Real college athletes showing their real experience. That's what performs on Instagram and TikTok in 2026.
31
Athletes Activated
College athletes across Orange County
198,600+
Views
Across athlete-created content
137
Assets Shared
Published across athlete channels
The Results
5ActivationsIn.
CampaignStillRunning.
Through the first five activations of a season-long partnership:
31
athletes activated: unique college athletes from campuses across Orange County.
198,600+
views: generated by athlete-created Reels, TikToks, and story content promoting OCSC matchdays.
6.1%
avg engagement: average engagement rate across athlete activation posts.
137
assets shared: published across athlete channels over the first five activations of the partnership.
3.84x
vs influencers: higher engagement than traditional influencers (Instagram influencer avg 1.59%, Source: Statista).
5
activations: completed so far in the season-long partnership with Orange County Soccer Club.
And the campaign isn't over. These numbers are a midpoint, not a final count.
Full-Stack Management
Everything.Handled.
OCSC didn't need to build an NIL program internally.
01
Athlete Sourcing & Vetting
Identified and recruited 31 college athletes across multiple OC campuses, matched to OCSC's target demographic.
02
NIL Contracting
Every athlete signed an individual NIL agreement covering deliverables, compensation, usage rights, and disclosure requirements.
03
Creative Briefing
Clear briefs with content examples, brand guardrails, tagging requirements, and posting windows. No scripts. The athlete brings the creativity.
04
Day-of Logistics
Ticket distribution, check-in coordination, on-site point of contact, and real-time troubleshooting on each activation date.
05
Compensation & Payment
All athlete payments administered through Contested's platform. No invoicing burden on OCSC.
06
Reporting & Reconciliation
Post-activation reports covering content volume, views, engagement, and financial reconciliation.