Novig, a sports-only prediction market, released its first national ad campaign on September 9. Sydney Sweeney stars in the roughly minute-long spot nude, covering herself with footballs, basketballs, and hockey pads while she talks up Novig as a platform focused only on sports, not "wars or deaths" like rival markets. Sweeney isn't a paid spokesperson — she's a strategic partner and equity holder in the company, though Novig hasn't disclosed the size of her stake. Novig launched nationwide in August, calls itself a federally regulated sports prediction market rather than a sportsbook, and requires users to be 21 or older. It pulled in more than $125 million in trading volume in its first week live.

1. Sexualization Critics (Ariarne Titmus, Olympic Swimmer; Skye Nicolson, World Champion Boxer)

This ad is exactly why women in sports don't get taken seriously.

This is a kick in the face, full stop. Four-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ariarne Titmus says she's "infuriated" by the ad and asks how "monetising a women's body and sexualising women's sport is still a thing."

There's a real line between looking sexy and selling sex. World champion boxer Skye Nicolson draws the distinction: looking "sexy" because you play a sport is one thing; using sex to sell the sport is another.

Other athletes piled on. Water polo silver medalist Tilly Kearns posted that she "absolutely" hates the ad, and gymnast Gracie Kramer kicked off a wider trend of athletes posting their own training and competition footage to contrast with it.

The complaint isn't new — it's just louder now. Marissa Womack, who manages a minor league baseball team, made the same point on TikTok before this latest wave: the sport is already male-dominated, and when the only visible image of a woman in sports is a sexualized one, fewer young women want in.

2. Sweeney and Novig (Sydney Sweeney; Jacob Fortinsky, Novig Co-Founder and CEO)

This was Sweeney's idea, she has money in it, and the backlash proves the bet paid off.

Sweeney says she built this, she didn't just sell it. She has said she doesn't "like to just put my face on something," and describes the ad as "confidence, humor and a playful edge" meant to "cut through the noise and put the focus entirely on sports."

Novig's CEO says Sweeney came to them. Jacob Fortinsky said Sweeney approached Novig herself, originally looking to invest, and helped shape the "sports only" pitch from scratch — he said she delivers it "in a way that's impossible to ignore."

He's calling the backlash a win. Fortinsky says the attention, including the criticism, is proof the ad worked: it forced the product into "national discourse."

Some commentators say the outrage itself is manufactured. Townhall's Amy Curtis argued the backlash is manufactured — that outlets are amplifying a handful of critical posts while most reaction, including comments like "Confirmed: Sydney Sweeney knows ball," was positive or neutral, echoing what she calls manufactured outrage over Sweeney's earlier American Eagle jeans ad.

This wasn't a defense. It was a deflection. On September 13, Sweeney posted a wordless Instagram Story of athletes who've posed nude for ESPN's Body Issue, including Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey, and Sue Bird. She didn't address the criticism directly; she just pointed at precedent.

3. Gambling-Industry Critics (Jeff Edelstein, Senior Analyst, InGame)

This is a bet dressed up as a financial product, sold to her own fanbase.

Prediction markets avoid the word "bet" on purpose. Jeff Edelstein, a senior analyst at InGame who covers sports betting and prediction markets, says operators like Novig "go to the ends of the earth to tell you they're not betting" — rebranding wagers as "trading" and the product as a "financial product." Novig's own ad only uses "bet" to describe what rival platforms do.

The ad's target audience is Sweeney's own fanbase. Young men are both the largest group of sports bettors and the core of Sweeney's following — the exact group this campaign reaches, with Sweeney now financially invested in getting them to trade.

Most users on these platforms lose money. A Wall Street Journal analysis of rival platform Polymarket found just 0.1% of accounts captured 67% of all profits, while more than 70% of users lost money overall.

The legal question of whether this is even "trading" isn't settled. Roughly 19 states are fighting in court over whether federal oversight of these sports-event contracts preempts state gambling law. The Third Circuit sided with the industry in April; the Ninth Circuit ruled against rival platform Kalshi on August 28, finding sports contracts aren't federally regulated swaps, so state gambling law still applies there.

Where This Lands

Critics like Titmus and Nicolson see a sexualized ad that sets women in sports back. Sweeney and Novig's Fortinsky call it a deliberate, owned bet that's proof the ad worked, and some commentators think the backlash itself is manufactured. Gambling analysts like Edelstein see a wager rebranded as a financial product, marketed by a celebrity-owner straight at her own young fanbase, while courts are still fighting over what to even call it.

Sources