Faves, the platform that allows athletes to turn their performance years into ongoing, lifelong business ventures, recently launched its upgraded platform that provides new offerings aimed at strengthening connections between athletes, brands and fans. Initially launched into Beta in early 2026, the full global launch allows current and former athletes to capitalize on Faves’ network of brands and sponsorship opportunities

New to the platform, Faves has introduced the first iteration of its Pro Team, its hand selected athlete innovation team, built to help competitors grow their influence and deepen engagement with fans throughout and beyond their competition years. The inaugural roster includes Ali Riley, Rose Zhang, Alyssa Spencer, Matt Hauser, Bree Hall, Colin Varanyak and Robert Farken, representing a growing network of athletes building businesses around who they are, not solely what they accomplish in competition.

Alongside the Pro Team, Faves has launched its athlete marketing engine, a platform automating the way brands build and scale an athlete marketing program, all in one place. Rooted in the belief that the next generation of brands will build their own rosters, rather than simply sponsoring someone else’s, the platform allows brands to use Faves’ infrastructure to build, measure and manage their own roster of athletes, turning authentic athlete relationships into a scalable, trackable revenue channel without the operational headache. Initial brands include Create, Hyperice, and Freaks of Nature.

“We built Faves because we believe that being an athlete is a career that can last a lifetime, not just a season,” explains Thomas Salas, founder of Faves. “Athletes own the attention and trust of millions of consumers, making daily decisions about how they look, feel, perform and belong. It’s an accelerating structural shift from athletes acting like billboards to athletes acting like businesses. 

“The next million professional athletes won’t need a contract, team or league to go pro,” he adds. “They’ll leverage their trust, attention and knowledge to build scalable businesses around their brand.”

To date, Faves has already helped hundreds of athletes better understand their audiences, unlock partnership opportunities and grow their presence beyond competition. Faves is removing the barriers of traditional sponsorship through better data, enabling them to act like an agent in every athlete's pocket. With the athletes interest driving the functionality of the software, Faves is able to bring more aligned opportunities across content, commerce, and partnerships to their athletes.

The updated platform introduces a more personalized experience designed to help athletes better define their goals and uncover opportunities aligned with their futures. Whether focused on growing a fanbase, developing commercial partnerships, creating content or preparing for life after retirement, athletes are increasingly looking for ways to build sustainable careers that extend beyond the game. 

"The economics of building an ecom brand have flipped," Salas continues. “Teams are shrinking, distribution is more expensive every quarter and AI is eroding trust in everything consumers see online. The voices that still cut through are the ones with real performance behind them, athletes. We built Faves because the brands that figure out how to work with athletes at scale will be the brands that win in the market."