---
title: Top Athlete Influencers Brands Should Sponsor in 2026
description: Looking for athlete influencers to power your next campaign? 10 proven athletes brands sponsor for reach, engagement and family-friendly content in 2026.
---

[We Match Brands to Athletes for Marketing Campaigns - OS Blog](https://opensponsorship.com/blog)

# [Top Athlete Influencers Brands Should Sponsor in 2026](https://opensponsorship.com/blog/top-10-athlete-influencers-for-fathers-day)

 Written by [Jeff](https://opensponsorship.com/blog/author/jeff) | May 15, 2023 2:05:00 PM

If you're a brand marketer looking for athlete influencers to power a 2026 campaign, the question isn't whether sports influencer marketing works - it's which athletes to actually sponsor. Generic influencer platforms like Grin and CreatorIQ surface millions of creators across every vertical, but they don't index athletes the way a sports-native platform does. OpenSponsorship is an end-to-end tech-enabled agency built specifically for athlete sponsorship, with 25,000+ athletes on the roster across the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA, Olympics, F1 and more.

This list highlights 10 athletes brands should sponsor in 2026 - chosen for follower reach, content consistency, and the kind of brand-fit angles (training content, family lifestyle, cause marketing, podcasting, fashion) that drive real campaign performance. If you're weighing this against [TikTok athlete influencers](https://opensponsorship.com/blog/top-10-tiktok-athlete-influencers) specifically, or you want the broader case for [why brands sponsor athletes in the first place](https://opensponsorship.com/blog/why-sports-sponsorship-7-reasons-sports-sponsorship), those posts go deeper.

### 1. Russell Westbrook - NBA

**Reach:** 21.9M Instagram followers. **Content style:** on-court highlights, signature fashion (his pre-game tunnel fits are a category of their own), family lifestyle, and Honor the Gift apparel brand content. **Why brands sponsor him:** nine-time NBA All-Star, 2017 MVP, and one of the most fashion-forward athletes in the league. Strong fit for apparel, lifestyle, automotive and family-targeted brands.

### 2. Robert Griffin III - Sports Media / Former NFL

**Reach:** 748K Instagram followers (plus a comparable X audience). **Content style:** FOX Sports analyst commentary, college football coverage, podcast clips, and family content with his three daughters. **Why brands sponsor him:** 2011 Heisman Trophy winner with a second act as a sports media personality, which means his content reach extends well beyond the NFL season. Fit for media, college sports, and family lifestyle brands.

### 3. Devon Still - Cause Marketing / Former NFL

**Reach:** 564K Instagram followers. **Content style:** family content, fatherhood commentary, and ongoing pediatric cancer awareness work tied to his daughter Leah's story. Leah was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2014, hit the 5-year cancer-free milestone in 2020, and the Still Strong Foundation continues to support families battling pediatric cancer. **Why brands sponsor him:** one of the most authentic cause-marketing voices on the platform. Fit for healthcare, family, CPG and any brand running a giving-back campaign.

### 4. Matt Carpenter - Former MLB

**Reach:** 223K Instagram followers. **Content style:** training, family, post-baseball reflections. **Why brands sponsor him:** former three-time MLB All-Star with a loyal St. Louis fan base that has stayed with him after retirement. Fit for sports nutrition, recovery, family CPG and regional Midwest brands.

### 5. Torrey Smith - Broadcaster / Former NFL

**Reach:** 379K Instagram followers. **Content style:** NFL analysis, family content, community work through the Torrey Smith Family Fund. **Why brands sponsor him:** Super Bowl champion turned broadcaster, with credibility across the football media landscape. Fit for media partners, family brands and community-focused campaigns.

### 6. Matt Barnes - Podcaster / Former NBA

**Reach:** 1.05M Instagram followers, plus the All The Smoke podcast (with Stephen Jackson), one of the most-watched athlete-led podcasts in sports media. **Content style:** long-form podcast interviews with active and retired athletes, NBA commentary, family lifestyle. **Why brands sponsor him:** Barnes is arguably more culturally relevant now as a media figure than during his 14-year NBA career. Strong fit for spirits, apparel, automotive, sports media and audio brands.

### 7. Eric Decker - Lifestyle / Former NFL

**Reach:** 1.04M Instagram followers (and his wife Jessie James Decker brings a much larger audience the family content cross-promotes into). **Content style:** family lifestyle, fashion, home and food content. The Decker family brand spans Jessie's cookbook, country music career and apparel line. **Why brands sponsor him:** rare access to a parent-of-young-kids audience that converts on family CPG, home, fashion and food brands.

### 8. Donald Scott - Track and Field

**Reach:** 24K Instagram followers. **Content style:** training content, triple jump competition, family. **Why brands sponsor him:** with the LA28 Olympics on the horizon, US track athletes are entering a high-attention window. Fit for sports nutrition, recovery, footwear and Olympics-tied campaigns.

### 9. Matt Bosher - Former NFL

**Reach:** 22K Instagram followers. **Content style:** family content, post-NFL lifestyle, Atlanta-area community. **Why brands sponsor him:** 10-year Atlanta Falcons veteran with strong regional recognition. Fit for Atlanta-area regional brands and family-oriented CPG.

### 10. Nathan Stupar - Former NFL

**Reach:** 14K Instagram followers. **Content style:** family content, faith-based content, training. **Why brands sponsor him:** active on social and explicitly open to brand partnerships - a good fit for brands looking for an authentic, mid-tier athlete voice rather than a top-of-market name.

### Sponsor athletes like these on OpenSponsorship

The 10 athletes above are a sample of the 25,000+ on the OpenSponsorship platform. Brands use OS to find athlete influencers across every major US and Canadian sport, run the campaign briefing and contracting through one workflow, and measure performance end-to-end. Beyond reach and engagement, brands should track downstream impact — our [influencer marketing ROI framework for sports brands](https://opensponsorship.com/knowledge/influencer-marketing-roi) covers the full measurement loop. If you want to compare budgets before you start, our breakdown of [how much athlete sponsorship costs](https://opensponsorship.com/blog/how-much-does-athlete-sponsorship-cost) walks through real numbers from $500 to $500K+, and our guide to [influencer marketing ROI](https://opensponsorship.com/knowledge/influencer-marketing-roi) covers how to measure what you get back. 

[Create a free brand account](https://opensponsorship.com/registration) to browse athletes by sport, follower count, location and content vertical, or book a call with our team to scope a 2026 campaign.

[View full post](https://opensponsorship.com/blog/top-10-athlete-influencers-for-fathers-day)

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