College sports marketing company Learfield saw a 123% increase in female athlete participation in name, image and likeness compensation activities over the 2025-26 fiscal year, the company revealed in a report released Tuesday.

Solly Fulp, Learfield’s head of NIL, doesn’t think the rapid surge is a coincidence.

“What we’re discovering with female student-athletes and their engagement with our brands is they’re excellent content creators and storytellers, they’re generally social media savvy and they have a genuine brand enthusiasm,” Fulp said.

Since the NCAA approved NIL compensation in July 2021, high revenue-generating sports like football and basketball have topped the list of earners. Five years later, women’s sports are beginning to close the gap, with women’s basketball ranking third in all sports and softball creeping into the top five behind baseball.

“It’s not just an emerging market now — it’s accelerating,” Fulp said. “It’s awesome for us to see when it comes to not just the focus being on football, men’s basketball and the revenue sports, but seeing the Olympic sports really step front and center.”

Female athlete engagement in NIL activities more than doubled in 2026, growing from 2,136 to 4,772.

Brands most frequently partnered with athletes through production shoots, social media content, ambassador programs, public appearances and autograph sessions. Restaurants led all sponsor categories, followed by financial services, health care and business and professional services.

Twenty-two national brands struck deals with college athletes over the fiscal year, including Geico, SeatGeek, State Farm, EA Sports, Uber, AT&T and Marriott. More than 260 athletes across 69 schools were featured in national campaigns.

Fulp said the return on investment is high for all parties when athletes pursue deals catered to their specific passions and interests.

“The authenticity is coming out in the content and storytelling that they provide in these campaigns … it humanizes the partnership and provides that deeper connection,” Fulp said. “The brands are definitely seeing the benefits with the engagement rates related to those campaigns.”

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

Maura Carey, The Associated Press