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The current college football season enters its third weekend with something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago: universities cutting actual paychecks to star players. Thanks to the $2.8 billion House v. NCAA settlement approved in June, schools can now share up to $20.5 million of their revenue directly with players across all college sports this year. That figure will climb by at least 4% annually over the decade-long agreement. It’s a far cry from the “they’re not employees” rhetoric we’ve heard from universities in recent decades and represents a fundamental reordering not just of college football but of college athletics in general. Until 2021, college athletes couldn’t profit from their talents at allno endorsements, no appearance fees, nothing. Then name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals provided the first crack in the dam, allowing players to finally monetize their name, image, and likeness through third-party deals. Welcome to the age of post-amateurism Now, direct payments from schools represent an even bigger shift. Under the new revenue-sharing model, roughly 75% of revenue will go to college football players, 15% to men’s basketball, 5% to women’s basketball, and 5% to all other sports. The booster collectives that dominated NIL since 2021 are being absorbed into athletic departments or fighting for their lives as NIL returns to actual endorsements rather than disguised pay-for-play. And now, as private equity money begins flowing into college sports through media rights deals and conference partnerships, the dam has officially collapsed. The rapid evolution has created a landscape where every move is scrutinized for potential conflicts of interest and precedent-setting implications. Even established players like OneTeam Partnerswhich represents over 20,000 professional and college athletes through a joint venture between the NFL and MLB players’ unionshave found themselves under scrutiny as regulators and stakeholders attempt to navigate the blurred lines between advocacy, representation, and business interests. But Sean Sansiveri, CEO of OneTeam Partners, views this regulatory complexity as expensive theaternecessary steps toward professionalization, but ultimately a detour from the real solution. OneTeam is not the target of the ongoing investigation and has fully cooperated from the beginning, the company says. During his previous 13-year tenure with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), Sansiveri helped develop concussion protocols and grew the union’s licensing program from $90 million to nearly $400 million. Sansiveri spoke with Fast Company to discuss why unions are key to sustainable athlete compensation, how private equity could accelerate this process, and how the next three to five years have the potential to transform college sports as we know them. House v. NCAA The House v. NCAA settlement allows schools to pay players directly for the first time, but NIL deals have been the main source of athlete compensation since 2021. How do you see the relationship between these two compensation streams? NIL was never meant to replace fair compensation from the system itselfit was just a first step. The House settlement creates, for the first time, a direct compensation stream from schools to athletes. But it doesnt replace NILit sits alongside it. Increased revenue sharing is going to be the biggest determination of what the future looks like. Some schools and conferences are already exploring alternative direct payment models, and we expect that to accelerate. I think the issue thats going to continue to change everything is primarily employment status. Will college athletes be recognized as employees? They should be, but that’s going to carry the most significant implications for compensation, benefits, rights to organize, etc. So in this new world where schools can pay up to $20.5 million directly to athletes, what role do third-party NIL deals actually play? In the pros, you have revenue sharing from the league and the teams. Roughly 50% of the revenue generated in the NFL, for example, funds the salaries and benefits of players. But we also have a group licensing program and individual athlete endorsement deals. A comparable model is likely in the best interests of collegiate athleteseach existing in parallel. But if the schools assume the duty to represent athlete NIL directlyas opposed to a collective bargaining unitand fail to maximize the value of those rights, I anticipate there being a lot of legal pain for those schools down the line. Booster Collectives get the boot? Booster collectives have been the dominant force in NIL since 2021. With schools now able to pay players directly, what’s happening to these collective organizations? I think it depends on whether they’re going to professionalize themselves and find an athlete empowerment role. If they don’t, they’re probably not going to play much of a role at all. It’s no longer about donations. It’s about investing in systems that generate long-term value. Private equity money typically goes into media rights, licensing, and infrastructure. To meand I think to every athlete who’s focused on thisthat means players should benefit through structured revenue sharing, formal employment models, and eventually maybe even equity in the teams themselves. So it’s less of this one-off cash model and more of a long-term compensation model, very much similar to what the pros have. Private Equity is in the house Speaking of long-term value, private equity has started investing in college sports in ways that weren’t previously allowed. What’s the significance of that shift? Private equity (PE) seems to be quietly becoming one of the most consequential forces in shaping the future of college sports. Unlike the NIL headlines, the story there is about who owns the ecosystem, not who’s getting paid within it. PE firms are eyeing long-term media deals as high upside investments. Infrastructure and commercializationthink stadium upgrades, campus entertainment districts, immersive fan experiencesare areas that private equity has a lot of experience in. If you can turn college athletics into a year-round multi-channel revenue engine, of course they’re interested. The problem, though, is that athletes aren’t formal stakeholders. Private equity is coming in to extract long-term value from the athletes who deserve and don’t currently have a seat at the table. How are they going to share in the upside? In my mind, that’s the biggest question. That raises an interesting question about power dynamics. Could private equity actually help athletes gain more leverage through unionzation? You could actually see an acceleration towards employment status and collective bargaining if private equity decides to really jump fully into this space. If you’re going to roll up schools, roll up conferences, you’re going to want an antitrust exemption, and you’re either going to get that from Congress or through a non-statutory labor exemption by having a union. In the professional models, if a union had decertified for purposes of antitrust in a lockout or strike, the first thing the professional leagues insist is that the union be reconstituted because of the antitrust exemption. So we could see private equity make a similar push in college sports. The licensing gold rush Your company, OneTeam Partners, focuses heavily on group licensing. How does that model work in college sports, and why is it important in this changing landscape? Group licensing can be a powerful equalizer. It allows athletes across entire teams, even in non-revenue-generating sports, to benefit collectively. What started as a mechanism primarily used by the professional sports unions is now unlocking revenue for college athletes through video games, jersey sales, and brand campaigns. It’s not just the stars who are participatingit’s the walk-ons, it’s the backups. They’re all earning alongside the All-Americans. At OneTeam, we have over 20,000 college athletes in our group licensing program today, and in just the first seven months of 2025, we’ve already delivered nearly $20 million in NIL payments to those athletes. But without a union in the space that actually represents those rights in an exclusive capacity, athletes aren’t achieving their full value. Looking ahead three to five years, what do you think the compensation landscape will look like for college athletes? Compensation packages would probably look more like their pro counterpartsanchored in direct payments from the schools, revenue sharing hopefully through union-negotiated agreements, and robust exclusive group licensing income from media, merchandise, gaming, trading cards, and jerseys. With organized labor at the table, that’ll make for a more transparent, structured, and sustainable system that addresses all of these issues. Whether it’s boosters, agent regulation, health and safety concerns, commercialization of data, AIall of that could be addressed through collective bargaining. What do you see as the biggest risk if college sports doesn’t move toward that professional model? The biggest risk is a fractured system with no central voice for athletes. As schools, private equity, and new pay models come into college, I don’t think the danger is chaos anymore. It’s overreach. When employees don’t have a strong voice representing them and without player unions or collective governance, the money is still going to flow. But the athlete rightsthe protections, the long-term sustainabilitywould fall through the cracks. The pro model: collective bargaining For someone trying to understand where all this is headed, how would you explain what college sports could, and maybe should, ultimately look like? The simplest way to explain it is to look at how it’s done in the pros. You have sustainable revenue models that fairly compensate athletes, focus on important issues like player safety, life after sporteverything ranging from prescription drug registry programs to protections for counterfeit merchandise. All of that is handled through a collective bargaining scheme that best serves the athletes. By serving the talent that drives the value of these sports, you are ensuring a sustainable model. Follow the blueprint that has been forged by the professional sports unions over the past several decades, and do that in college. That’s the simplest path to organization and eliminating the chaos and the potential for overreach. What advice would you give to college athletes as they navigate this rapidly changing landscape? When I’m looking at these NIL opportunities, especially in the context of group licensing, until there’s employee recognition and a professional-style union in place, so many of these entities that are participating in the value growth are doing so for their investors. The unique factor in professional sports is that if money from NIL is going to a union, that money is strengthening a union and advocating for fair wages, hours, and working conditions on behalf of the athletes. In the current ecosystem, we don’t have that. So who is participating in the value chain and what are their ultimate incentives? If I’m an athlete, those are the questions I’d be asking.
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For years, millennials have watched the C-suite from just on the other side of the glass wallmanaging divisions, leading teams, and driving innovation while patiently waiting their turn. That turn is now arriving. With baby boomers rapidly aging out of leadership, a long-stalled generational shift is gaining momentum. The question is no longer if millennials will lead, but whether they will be ready when the moment comes. Born between 1981 and 1996, millennials are now between 29 and 44 years old. Many have spent 15 to 20 years climbing the corporate ladder, only to find the final rung out of reach. Executive bottleneckscreated by boomer longevity, flat org charts, and limited enterprise-level roleshave kept many qualified candidates in a holding pattern. Ironically, the very lack of top-tier experience that holds them back is also the result of being held back. And yet, the baton is clearly passing. By 2030, millennials and Generation Z are projected to make up 74% of the global workforce. As boomer retirements accelerateoften for reasons no strategic plan could predictmillennials are stepping into the void. But the rules have changed. There is no clear playbook for how to assume leadership amid organizational flux, economic volatility, and rapidly shifting workplace values. Thats why now is the time for intentional preparation, not hopeful waiting. The Case for a New Succession Mindset Most companies still treat succession planning as a private conversation among top brass, an exercise postponed until a health scare or sudden resignation forces action. This approach is no longer sustainable. Succession isnt a milestone; its a business continuity strategy. Organizations that fail to modernize their models risk losing talent, stability, and credibility. Heres what companies need to start doing differently: Spot leadership potential earlier. Relying on time-in-role or box-checking delays progress and demotivates high performers. Design stretch and rotational assignments. Exposure to cross-functional leadership and enterprise-level challenges builds the experience candidates need before they step up. Normalize and celebrate planning. Succession should be seen as a mark of maturity and foresight, not a threat. Hold legacy leaders accountable. Preparing the next generation isnt optional; its a fiduciary responsibility. Organizations that embrace these strategies will build stronger, more resilient leadership pipelines and send a clear message to ambitious millennials: Youre wanted here. Millennial Leaders: Its Go Time For millennial leaders-in-waiting, the opportunity is real, but so is the responsibility. This is not the moment for entitlement. The next wave of executive leadership must be as self-directed as it is strategic. Whether your current employer has a plan for your promotion or not, heres how to proactively build executive readiness: 1. Take on initiatives with real enterprise risk. Its not enough to manage well within your silo. To lead at the enterprise level, you need experience with complexity, ambiguity, and full-spectrum accountability. Raise your hand for projects with broad impactlike spearheading entry into a new market with defined revenue targets and budget oversight or volunteering to lead an ERP implementation that spans all departments. These high-stakes opportunities will sharpen your financial literacy, strategic agility, and ability to drive results across functions. 2. Get inside the roomeven if its just as a listener. You dont need a title to learn how decisions get made at the top. Ask to observe board meetings, quarterly earnings calls, or executive strategy sessionseven if your initial role is just to take notes. If that feels too bold, start by listening in on investor calls and studying how leadership communicates priorities under pressure. Youll build fluency in the language of power, understand the dynamics of alignment and dissent, and develop a mental model of how high-level decisions unfold. 3. Build a cross-generational, cross-industry bench of mentors. Relying solely on internal sponsors can leave you with a limited view. Seek mentorship beyond your company and comfort zone. Reach out to retired industry executives on LinkedIn, or connect with entrepreneurs in your alumni networkespecially those with experience in areas like private equity exits or value creation. These relationships can provide unfiltered insights, challenge your assumptions, and give you access to perspectives that rarely surface in internal conversations. 4. Invest in structured learningand signal that youre serious. If your company isnt investing in your executive development, youll need to take the lead. Enroll in executive education programs like Whartons Advanced Management Program, or join a peer-learning group such as Vistage. These environments offer both credibility and capability. They help you build critical skills like systems thinking, strategic finance, and leadership under uncertainty. Just as important, they show your readiness to step into bigger roles without waiting for permission. 5. Understand how power really works. Its not enough to want a seat at the tableyou need to understand how the table is constructed and governed. Track your companys stock performance, read analyst reports, and follow how boards evaluate CEO performance, especially through compensation committee disclosures. Develop an understanding of how governance shapes strategy and how shareholder sentiment influences executive decision-making. This level of fluency sets you apart as someone who can lead for long-term value, not just short-term gains. 6. Cultivate executive presence before the title arrives. Leadership isnt just about the decisions you makeits about how you carry them. Start practicing now. Record yourself presenting and review your communication habits with a critical eye. Join Toastmasters to refine public speaking under pressure. Or step in to mediate a cross-functional conflict, not as a referee but as a bridge-builder. Presence is earned through discipline, self-awareness, and repeated exposure to uncomfortable moments. The earlier you start, the more natural it becomes when the stakes are highest. Its important to remember that your next big move might not come from your current company. Promotions are earned, not inherited. Be visible. Be prepared. And be open to opportunities beyond your corporate backyard. Mindset Over Milestones Millennials have often been stereotyped as entitled or impatient, labels that obscure the realities of a generation that has navigated recessions, restructuring, and rapid transformation. The most successful leaders will move beyond these narratives by pairing confidence with humility and urgency with preparedness. The core mindset shift is this: Be ready, not owed. That means embracing ambiguity, staying coachable, and resisting the temptation to assume the job is yours by default. Leadership is earned every day, in the way you show up, guide teams, and respond under pressure. Legacy Leaders: Your Moment of Impact Is Now Forsenior executives still in the seat, this generational transition is not on the horizonits happening now. How you handle it will define your legacy. Smooth handoffs signal strength to the market and provide incoming leaders with the support they need to succeed. Whats at stake if you dont? Unplanned exits, talent flight, and misaligned leadership choices can create chaos and erode shareholder confidence. Companies that delay succession planning until the eleventh hour often end up with rushed decisions and rocky transitions. Warren Buffetts long-anticipated succession plan is a recent, high-profile example of doing it right: public, planned, and deliberate. Not every company needs a Buffett-scale blueprint, but every leader should view transition as an act of stewardship, not surrender. The Road Ahead Millennials arent just coming for the C-suitetheyre already sitting at the table in growing numbers. What they need isnt permission. Its a road map, a challenge, and a vote of confidence. Organizations that invest in preparing themand leaders who take responsibility for their own readinesswill shape the next generation of executives and the future of business itself. The era of waiting is over. The window is open. Step through.
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They are as short as a toothbrushing tutorial but pack the same spicy wallop as a BookTok romantasy. Theyre as bingeable as a bajillion-dollar Netflix series, but with the stripped-down aesthetics of a Hallmark movie. Im talking, of course, about microdramasthe fast, fizzy serialized videos flooding phones worldwide. In just a few years, theyve become a full-blown phenomenon, generating billions in revenue without Hollywoods help. At least, not until now. As studios grapple with a sluggish summer box office and another thin fall TV lineup, a growing legion of viewers is glued to stories made exclusively for their phones. Microdramasor vertical shows, as theyre often calledblend the raw emotion of K-dramas with a TikTok sensibility. Think high-intensity, telenovela-like series, unfurling in one-to-three-minute chunks across 50 to 100 mostly paywalled episodes. They may have titles such as Doctor Boss Is My Baby Daddy or Signed, Sealed, Deceived by My Billionaire Mailboy, but their massive, global fan base makes them impossible to dismiss. A structural shift Born in China during the early COVID years, microdramas have since ballooned into a $7 billion industry, and are projected to generate $10 to $13 billion in revenue by 2027. More than 40 dedicated apps, including Seoul-based Vigloo and Californias ReelShort, operate on a freemium model. Curious viewers can try a multi-episode taste of most series, with the option to continue by either paying to subscribe or making in-app purchases. Although the format first gained traction in Eastern regions, the U.S. emerged last year as the largest market for microdrama apps, contributing 60% of global revenue, according to data analysis firm Sensor Tower. Apps like GoodShort and DramaBox now regularly jostle with Netflix for top slots in entertainment rankings. (To be clear, these companies remain well behind Netflix in revenue and profit.) Now, as U.S. demand for vertical shows surges, a group of Hollywood veterans is jumping in. MicroCo, a new partnership between horror-focused studio Cineverse and Lloyd Brauns Banyan Ventures, has tapped former Showtime president Jana Winograde as CEO and ex-NBCUniversal content chief Susan Rovner as COO. The companys still-unnamed app wont launch until next spring, but its very existence suggests a massive sea change is currently underway. Vertical viewing is not just a passing trend,” says Neil Hyuk-jae Choi, CEO of Vigloo parent company SpoonLabs, “but a structural shift. Dont call it Quibi 2.0 To understand what microdramas are, its important to know what theyre not, which is: Quibi. Jeffrey Katzenbergs quixotic quest to bring short-form A-list streaming content to the masses failed spectacularly, lasting all of seven months in 2020. Once it officially folded, Quibi became both a cautionary tale and an all-purpose punch line for jokes about doomed media projects. Heres the thing, though: For all its flaws, the “quick bites” concept now seems rather prescient. Quibi launched in April 2020, at the dawn of the pandemic, about a split-second before TikTok exploded. At the time, the average U.S. social media user had not yet internalized the habit of swiftly thumbing through a succession of vertical videos, nor had TikTok yet matured into a marketing juggernaut. (Indeed, microdrama studios now frequently seed samples on TikTok to reel in fresh viewers.) If theyd launched two years later, we’d probably be telling a very different story now, says Cineverse president Erick Opeka, who is part of the MicroCo team. It wasnt just the length of the clips that sank Quibi. The company banked on repackaging star-driven cable-style shows into bite-size chunks. If consumers had wanted to see so-so cable TV shows in seven-minute increments, well, there were already plenty of streaming apps aroundand all of them came equipped with pause buttons. What potential viewers seemed to want, in retrospect, was something they hadnt seen before. Quibi was less microdrama and more micro-TV show, says Sammi Cohen, a tech and culture influencer who runs the YouTube channel and podcast Social Currency. The concept made so much sense to me, though; as people have shorter and shorter attention spans, it seemed like the obvious direction shift for the entertainment industry. Katzenbergs venture had the right tech too early, and with the wrong content. Microdramas, however, seem to have arrived right on scheduleand many viewers are now quick to bite. All gas, no brakes These shows arent just TV that’s been shrunk down. They thrive on hyper-speed pacing, heightened dialogue, and Kabuki-level performances. A conventional three-act structure in cinema requires 20 to 30 minutes spent setting up the characters and their goals, followed by another 40 to 50 minutes of compelling complications, and finally, 20 to 30 minutes of resolution. Microdramas, however, speed-run much of that process and fill it with the emerging conventions of the format, such as hidden identities, rescue moments, and love-triangle showdowns. In effect, that means ubtlety is out, and nearly every episode ends on a cliffhanger. (Viewers will never have to question, for instance, the motives of Escaping the Bridezilla’s protagonist as she tears through one conflict after another.) Its a format designed for a generation hyper-exposed to endless streams of content, where you must capture attention instantly and sustain it across 50 or 60 episodes,” says Mauricio Osaki, a filmmaker with several microdramas to his credit, including 2025’s Fight for Love, the most-watched English-language series on Vigloo. Closed-captioning is standard, so viewers can keep up while watching with the sound off during downtime in a college classroom, during a Zoom meeting, or at their kids Little League game. (The latter seems more likely, too, given that 70% of Vigloos viewership is over the age of 35.) Its not really meant to be sat down and fully engaged with, says Tristan McKenzie, a young filmmaker who has been producing microdramas, like this years Under the Hood, since 2022. It’s a new type of media, in a language that’s actively being created. How your microdrama sausage is made As several creators who spoke with Fast Company tell it, the all-gas-no-brakes urgency of these series carries over to production. Microdramas come together with head-spinning speed and efficiency, going from concept to streaming in a matter of months or even weeks. Budgets are tight, typically in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. Apps like Vigloo look for creative partners who have already notched vertical hits, or those who seem most open to working in an experimental style and with limited resources. Those who deliver highly viewed shows for the app tend to come back for more, with the two sides working hand in glove to optimize the material. According to Osaki, who has made several microdramas with Vigloo, the company regularly shares data with returning collaborators. The data may reveal patternsmoments when viewers skip ahead or exit the story,” he says. “When we see those weak points, we rework them in future scripts, whether its adding a dramatic element, shifting when a reveal happens, or strengthening a cliffhanger.” Because microdramas are tailored for vertical viewing, they require not only the ability to work lean, but also with a vastly different approach to visual storytelling. The 9:16 aspect ratio makes for a more intimate format, with much less room in each frame to add directorial razzle-dazzle. Instead, microdrama creators tend to focus heavily on the interactions between people, and what they are doing with their facessometimes with the assistance of an inner monologue. You can’t really do expansive vistas and big special effects, Opeka says. The industry has already spun up its own talent ecosystem to form a kind of MicroHollywood. Actor Kasey Esser, dubbed the Brad Pitt of microdramas by The Ankler, has starred in more than 50 vertical shows and now writes and produces them as well. Beyond Esser, a growing roster of recognizable, camera-ready actors has emergedenough that, according to Choi, many Vigloo subscribers in the U.S. pick shows based largely on whos in the cast. Given that these projects operate outside the traditional entertainment system, theyre unsurprisingly non-union productions. Many of them also rely on AI to some degree, a practice still largely frowned on in Hollywood, as evidenced by this years Oscars fracas around minor AI usage in The Brutalist. For us, the question isnt whether to use AI, but how to apply it creatively and responsibly, Choi says. The CEO claims that Vigloo has been testing AI in post-production, visual effects, and marketing assets. Considering how quickly Vigloos rival studios are churning out content, though, and how cookie-cutter the dialogue can get, it seems inevitable that some series are (or will be) written with AI. As for MicroCo, although Braun has signaled his intention to use AI tools to keep costs down, Opeka says the team has no plans for using them on the storytelling side. My perception is that AI scriptwriting is just not ready for prime time, he says. Microdramas, American-style The shows geared toward U.S. audiences have started to develop their own identity. Romance is still the top genre everywhere, but some subgenres have especially taken off stateside. Romantasy titles, like Vigloos A Vampire in the Alphas Den, are huge in the U.S., the epicenter of BookTok, as are sports romances and high school-set dramas. The storytelling is definitely adapting [for Western audiences,] Osaki says. Compared to Asian IP, there are fewer toxic relationships; stronger, more empowered female characters; and the narratives are beginning to reflect settings and cultural touchpoints that feel distinctly American. (One show, for example, takes place during spring break.) Microdramas are on the verge of becoming even more Americanized as MicroCo assembles its in-house team of writers and prepares to flood the zone with fresh content. The team is wary, however, of messing too much with a winning formula. Romance is working very well in the microdrama space, and so we want to lean into that, says MicroCo CEO Jana Winograde. But it will have the same formatted nature. We’re not trying to change what it is. Beyond content, the fledgling company also aims to shake up the tech. Winograde says the app wont just host viewing but will add social featuresletting users like, comment, clip, share, and engage in ways the team hasnt yet disclosed. We all wanted to make watercooler TV, she says, and now we have this thing in our hands that is both the TV and the watercooler. Microdramas may be light-years away from Hollywood film and television, but as audiences continue flocking to the bite-size series, the industry may have little choice but to rethink what storytelling looks like in the palm of a hand. Ultimately, humans will always crave stories, Osaki says. “Thats part of who we are. And well continue to explore new ways to tell them.
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