State Farm to sponsor Overtime’s inaugural girls flag football game

State Farm is planting its flag in flag football.

Next summer, sports media company and league operator Overtime plans to host an All-American girls flag football game, which will feature top high school flag football athletes from around the country in partnership with NBC Sports, giving them a platform on traditional media and Overtime’s social channels. The game will now be sponsored by State Farm as part of an extended deal between the brand and Overtime, the companies shared exclusively with Marketing Brew.

As part of the agreement, State Farm will continue its presence in Overtime’s basketball and 7-on-7 football leagues, with an additional NIL element.

State Farm is synonymous with sports partnerships, with heavy investment in traditional football and basketball leagues. Overtime’s content resonates “with the next generation of athletes and sports fans” who are highly engaged on digital platforms, Kristyn Cook, State Farm’s chief agency, sales, and marketing officer, said in an email, noting that it was a key element as to why State Farm doubled down on the partnership.

“State Farm has always been a believer in what we’ve been building for the next generation of athletes,” Marc Kohn, president of content and media at Overtime, told Marketing Brew.

Up the flag pole

Girls’ and women’s flag has been gaining popularity at the youth and college levels ahead of the sport’s Olympic debut at LA28, and Kohn said Overtime execs have discussed breaking into flag football for a couple of years. He believes Overtime can help accelerate the growth of the sport even further.

“We’re great at driving audience, we’re great at creating characters, we’re great at building properties and leagues and universes around these stars,” he said. “It’s a place that we have every right to win in, and it’s a place where we feel as though we can create a best-in-class experience.”

NBC and Overtime have previously partnered on initiatives like Olympic content creation and high school football programming, so when NBC reached out about flag, it was a no-brainer, Kohn told us.

State Farm has partnered on new properties with Overtime before, including basketball leagues Overtime Elite and Overtime Select, and under the new deal, the companies will have worked together for six consecutive years. Kohn said because of the long-standing relationship, the insurance brand got first dibs on the flag sponsorship.

As part of the deal, State Farm will serve as the presenting sponsor of the Girls Flag All-American Team selection, which will be promoted on Overtime’s channels, as well as during NBC Sports’s coverage of the Navy All-American Bowl (a high school football all-star game) and the OT7 7-on-7 football championship.

Further activations are likely to come but have yet to be finalized, Kohn said.

Girls’ flag football is new for Overtime, but Cook said her team at State Farm has already seen the business value of women’s sports sponsorships and values the opportunity to get involved with additional emerging sports early.

“We’re excited to be in at the ground level of something that’s net-new,” she said. “That’s not an opportunity you get as a brand every day, especially in the world of sports.”

Name, insurance, likeness

As part of the expanded deal, State Farm will partner with Overtime athletes from across sports on content via NIL deals. The strategy lines up with Overtime’s longtime emphasis on athletes: the company has built its leagues and properties around players, Kohn said, giving young athletes platforms before they potentially become pro stars.

The approach also serves audiences, he added.

“A 16-year-old loves to watch other [teenagers] on YouTube, or on Instagram Stories, or on their TikTok,” he said. “They’re watching people their own age more than they’re watching people my age on television.”

For State Farm, NIL deals offer an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of sports culture, in this case via athletes as opposed to at the league level, Cook said.

“These athletes are building their own growing fanbases and are on a strong upward trajectory,” she said. “By incorporating NIL, we’re able to build relationships with emerging talent earlier in their careers.”

Not all youth athletes have massive reach (yet), but Cook said NBC’s broadcast coverage of OT7 helps extend the brand’s presence beyond athletes’ and Overtime’s platforms. It’s a move that seems representative of the direction sports media is headed.

“Content is king, and it always will be. I’m a tried-and-true content person,” Kohn said, “but distribution…is at least equally as important in so many different cases.”