The Extra Point: Alvin Kamara Becoming A Dual-Sport Influencer

One of the latest trends in professional sports is for high-profile athletes to get involved with other professional sports, including auto racing and soccer

Alvin Kamara is used to forging his own path. Now he's going to try and do it in a different sport, NASCAR. 

Over the weekend, the association announced that the running back will serve as the first Growth and Engagement Advisor. Per the Saints News Network, Kamara will work alongside the Charlotte-based NASCAR Marketing team and contribute to planning, ideation, and activation around fan development and engagement.

The announcement comes a little over a year after Kamara attended his first race, the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in support of Bubba Wallace Jr., the only African-American driver in the NASCAR Cup Series. 

Kamara also expressed interest in racing following NASCAR's banning of Confederate flags from all future events following efforts spearheaded by Wallace. This past February, his Louisiana-based juice bar, The Big Squeezy, sponsored Ryan Vargas’ No. 6 JD Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

“Alvin’s journey to NASCAR happened very organically from that initial curiosity to experiencing our events to developing a real and sincere passion for the sport,” said Pete Jung, Chief Marketing Officer at NASCAR. “That’s what we’re looking to tap into … his insights, perspective, and ideas … and learning more about his experience so that we can enhance what we’re doing to engage and develop new fans.”

Kamara will work alongside the Charlotte-based NASCAR Marketing team under Jung’s leadership and contribute to planning, ideation, and activation around fan development and engagement.

His duties actually began on Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway, where he toured the facility and met with NASCAR and industry leaders and drivers ahead of the first racing event staged in Nashville by NASCAR’s premier series in 37 years. 

“It’s an honor to be able to team up with NASCAR and be their first-ever Growth and Engagement Advisor,” the All-Pro running back for the New Orleans Saints said in a statement. “I’m excited to use my passion as a fan to help shape their long-term efforts to grow the sport.”

Interestingly, Kamara, who started his collegiate career at Alabama only to end up at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College and then transferred to Tennessee, isn't the only one branching out. 

His former Saints teammate Mark Ingram II joined D.C. United's ownership group as an investor earlier this month. 

The 2009 Heisman Trophy winner, who is about to begin his 11th NFL season, and first with the Houston Texans, is 31 years told. Other active professional athletes to enter Major League Soccer ownership include James Harden (Houston Dynamo FC) and Kevin Durant (Philadelphia Union). Seattle Seahawks (NFL) quarterback Russell Wilson also has an ownership stake in the Seattle Sounders.

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