The news: U.S. Bank and Las Vegas Raiders rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza launched "Finance with Fernando," a video series aimed at teaching Gen Z about personal finance, Mendoza announced this week in a LinkedIn post. 

The educational campaign will run across social media platforms and on U.S. Bank’s owned channels.

How we got here: As U.S. Bank's "Chief Financial Playmaker," Mendoza has appeared in the bank's "Making Plays" and "Cozy Cash" ads. Mendoza was an attractive partner: In addition to being the 2026 No. 1 NFL Draft pick, he has 1.26 million followers on Instagram, over 100,000 on TikTok, and over 200,000 on LinkedIn.

Why it matters: Popular Gen Z athletes with a strong social media following can help banks bridge gaps with their Gen Z followers. 

That’s because Gen Z’s sports fandom is increasingly athlete-first rather than team-first. 

• Gen Zers are nearly twice as likely as Gen Xers —and 25% more likely than Millennials—to feel more connected to individual players than to teams or sports, per WSC Sports.
• Gen Z is also 84% more likely than Millennials to start following a new athlete, while social media is the leading way fans discover new players, teams, or sports per WSC Sports. 

Implications for marketers: Extending a brand ambassador relationship across ads, educational content, and social platforms can turn a one-off endorsement into an ongoing association between the athlete and the brand. 

Athlete-first fandom could also make individual players valuable alternatives to traditional team sponsorships for reaching Gen Z: Athletes’ fans can follow them across teams, markets, and stages of their careers, giving brands a more portable relationship with fans. 

But that portability cuts both ways—banks are tying their reach more closely to the relevance and trajectory of an individual personality. That means if an athlete’s popularity fades or fans’ attention moves elsewhere, brands may have to rebuild the audience connection they relied on that athlete to provide.

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