Female athletes balk after receiving apparent offer of up to $2,400 to promote Montana Democrat on social media
Some female college athletes in Montana raised an eyebrow after they apparently received an offer of up to $2,400 to promote the re-election efforts of a Democrat senator who previously voted to allow men to participate in women’s sports.
Lily Meskers — a junior at the University of Montana who majors in journalism and competes on the women’s track team — broke the story last week.
‘Where is your endorsement for us? Where is you standing up for us as female athletes?’
Meskers claimed that she and all other student-athletes at UM received an email forwarded to them by Jean Gee, the senior associate athletic director. The original email reportedly came from Montana Together, a group working to re-elect Democrat Sen. Jon Tester of Montana.
The email offered student-athletes between $400 and $2,400 in exchange for up to four unscripted videos promoting Tester on Instagram Reels, Meskers reported.
The offer was apparently pitched as a name, image, and likeness deal, often abbreviated NIL, and addressed to “athletes who attend college in Montana and are interested in spreading the word about Senator Jon Tester and causes you care about.”
“Let’s work together to inform your audience about Senator Tester’s track record in office and encourage him to maintain his support of these vital policies,” the email read in part, according to the New York Post.
Meskers said she and some of her fellow female athletes were stunned to be asked to tout a Democrat senator who voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, introduced by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, a former head football coach at Auburn University.
Meskers called Tester’s vote against the act “a direct hit against women’s sports.”
“I think me and a lot of the girls on the team honestly shared a really similar reaction to this,” Meskers explained on “Montana Talks with Aaron Flint.” “Why would we endorse something that fundamentally goes against us? As women athletes, you know, we work really hard to get to the level that we’re at to be Division I athletes, and to have biological men take away these positions from us, it’s really frustrating.”
“Where is your endorsement for us? Where is you standing up for us as female athletes?” Meskers asked, referring to Tester.
Katie Whitehurst, another member of the UM women’s track team, similarly grimaced at the offer. “I stand by biological women competing fairly in women’s sports and the offer seemed guided towards only one political part,” she said, according to Meskers’ reporting.
Kent Haslam, UM athletic director, defended the forwarded email, claiming that recipients had the option to consider or ignore the offer.
“When athletics gets these type of general NIL requests, it is our practice to forward those out to all student-athletes, unless the requestor is looking for a specific athlete or team,” Haslam’s statement read in part.
Haslam also claimed that the email actually came via Opendorse, a company which facilitates NIL opportunities. “Athletics sent along the opportunity to all of the athletes in case any were interested,” his statement added. “The athletes could then reach out to [Opendorse] for more information.”
Tester, 68, is currently in a tough re-election battle against Republican nominee Tim Sheehy, a 37-year-old Navy SEAL veteran who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Montana is also one of the reddest states in the country, so Tester has had to campaign as a moderate.
Meskers isn’t buying it.
“People describe Tester as a moderate person, but this vote against the protection of women and girls’ sports was not a moderate vote,” Meskers insisted. “I think most of Montana would absolutely agree with that. You know, this is not a moderate vote.”
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