As college sports look more professional, sponsors turn to high school

In the age of NIL, the college sports landscape looks increasingly professional. Transfers are common, viewership is skyrocketing, and brands are paying big bucks to advertise against college games, claim naming rights, and partner with college athletes.

In the wake of that shift, some marketers are headed back to school—high school, that is.

“The high school landscape, inclusive of college and grassroots, is really at the forefront as far as how we’re thinking about increasing brand demand,” Craig Cummings, VP of the team sports division at Under Armour, told Marketing Brew. “From the high school perspective, ultimately, it’s the ability for our brand to be associated with athletes when they’re at a pivotal place in their personal development.”

Youth athletes often have clout within their local communities, and in the age of streaming and social media, where clips from games and practices can unexpectedly go viral, high school sports have the potential to provide brands with serious reach. As the high school sports space grows up alongside college and the pros, some marketers are looking to get in early, with endemic brands like Under Armour and Nike leading the way.

The cool kids

Top college athletes often reach local superstar status in their regions, and the same can be said for high schoolers. Brands, in turn, can leverage that status via schoolwide outfitting deals or individual athlete sponsorships, marketers told us.

“It’s about credibility, and about showing the other students that this athlete, who’s usually the trendsetter, is feeling comfortable wearing our brand off the field, off the court,” Cummings said.

The off-field impact of high school athletes is also important at Nike, which signed its first high school athletes, soccer player sisters Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, to NIL deals in 2022. The Thompson sisters went on to become global soccer superstars, with Gisele playing for Angel City FC and Alyssa recently transferring to Chelsea FC for about £1 million (about $1.3 million), a record fee at the time.

Not all high school athletes will go on to play professionally, but for Ann Miller, EVP of global sports marketing at Nike, the company’s work in high school sports isn’t all about potential future upside.

“Their impact isn’t just about popularity—it’s about purpose, performance, and the potential to unite and inspire,” Miller said in an email. “High school athletes help us build community, break barriers, and shape the future of sport.”

Growth spurt

Student athletes may have sway in their school hallways, and their potential impact can also stretch beyond the local level. Many are naturally social media savvy, and some have significant social followings, so much so that “we’re actually seeing the high school–aged athletes move consumer demand at a faster pace than college [athletes], or even professionals,” Cummings said.

But brands don’t have to rely solely on social to achieve wide reach, as there are a number of platforms streaming high school games and highlights that offer sponsorship and ad opportunities.

Hudl, a platform that started out as a video software service for coaches and teams, now livestreams over a million games a year, including club and high school sports, serving ads during moments like halftimes and timeouts, according to Adam Gouttierre, Hudl’s VP of media. Hudl also offers sponsorships of highlight content like top touchdowns or volleyball spikes, Gouttierre said, and it has provided brands with archival footage of current pros including Jayson Tatum, Josh Allen, and Caitlin Clark from when they were in high school.

There is already brand interest: Under Armour, T-Mobile, Gatorade, Yeti, Nike, and Invisalign are among the brands that have activated on the platform.

PlayOn Sports, another high school sports platform, is building out its sponsorship and ad sales business, Luke Pagano, SVP, ad sales and brand partnerships, told us. His team has signed multiple sponsors for 2026, he said, and their pitch goes beyond local marketing.

“There’s north of 27,000 high schools in the country, which provides a ton of scale,” Pagano said, later adding that high school sports, especially big games like Friday night football, “can absolutely be a really strong and engaging national play.”

High school sports deals also tend to be more affordable than college or pro sports, and marketers might find that there’s less competition for attention. “High school sports, in general, is highly unbranded,” Pagano said.

Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty

High school sports might not stay uncluttered forever, but for now, the brands that dominate the space seem to be primarily sports endemics, perhaps because their target audiences include high school athletes. For some brands, the reasoning is in part to connect deeply with high school players who then go on to be global superstars.

“Our decision was about more than just making history,” Miller said of Nike’s deal with the Thompson sisters. “We wanted to set a new standard for how brands can support and empower high school athletes from day one.”

Powering an athlete from youth sports all the way to the pros is a “dream scenario” for Under Armour, Cummings said, one that requires building deep connections with athletes early in their careers. As part of that effort, much of Under Armour’s work in high school sports involves giving back to communities, he said, like the company’s Project Rampart initiative, which supports student athletes academically.

The project allows the brand to tell stories about high school athletes, Cummings said, and work like that can also foster brand affinity among future sports stars from their youth.

“The core customer is that athlete, and I think that athlete wants to hear from [sports brands] not later in life, but earlier in life,” Gouttierre said. “To be able to connect with an athlete audience in an athlete environment is a special place.”