OpenSponsorship
OpenSponsorship

NIL Sponsorship - Sponsor College Athletes (page 4)

NIL deals let brands sponsor college athletes directly, reaching the 18-24 campus audience at a fraction of what pro-athlete partnerships cost. Since the NIL era opened in 2021, college athletes across football, basketball, gymnastics, and Olympic sports have become some of the highest-ROI partners in sports, with engaged, hyper-local followings and rates well below the pros. Browse 45+ college athletes open to NIL brand partnerships on OpenSponsorship.

Top College athletes ranked by followers
NameFollowersEngagement
Kate Mardis profile photoKate Mardis
2.6K1.1K
Cameron Noel profile photoCameron Noel
2.5K258
Jaelen Hunter profile photoJaelen Hunter
2.4K184
Caroline Soller profile photoCaroline Soller
1.9K553
joe schmoes profile photojoe schmoes
1.9K34
Breanna Varano profile photoBreanna Varano
1.9K436
Max Kim profile photoMax Kim
1.5K175
Tylin Suggs profile photoTylin Suggs
1.5K173
Julius Reese Jr profile photoJulius Reese Jr
19834
Nino Gama profile photoNino Gama
0269
Henry Tolliver profile photoHenry Tolliver
0100
Leslie Jefferson profile photoLeslie Jefferson
0138

Why sponsor College athletes on OpenSponsorship

From discovery to signed deliverables, brands use OpenSponsorship to run measurable creator campaigns with less overhead. Here is how this category stacks up — plus platform-wide benchmarks from 2,500+ brand users and 25,000+ creator profiles.

  • 48 athletes

    Browse and filter college athletes on OpenSponsorship — audience, location, platform, and more.

  • Typical social post range

    $550–$2,200 among creators in this list (from listed pricing).

  • Average audience size

    About 26K followers on average across this list — use filters to go bigger or smaller.

  • Strongest platform

    Instagram leads this category.

  • Top markets

    United States.

  • 7x average ROI

    Brands use OpenSponsorship for discovery, proposals, and contracts — 8,000+ deals across 40+ countries.

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Connect with more College athletes on OpenSponsorship

Sign up to message College athlete

Frequently Asked Questions

Listed pricing for college athletes on OpenSponsorship typically runs from about $450 to $2,200 per social post, well below what comparable pro athletes charge. That affordability is the whole point of NIL: brands can sign several campus creators for the cost of one pro deal. Final rates depend on deliverables, usage rights, and exclusivity, and each profile lists its own pricing before you reach out.

Instagram is the leading channel by a wide margin, with TikTok next, both well suited to the Gen Z campus audience these athletes reach. The audience is overwhelmingly United States based and clusters around schools and college towns, which makes it strong for regional and youth-focused brands. Engagement tends to run high because the followings are smaller and tightly connected to a team or campus.

NIL, short for name, image, and likeness, lets college athletes get paid for endorsements while keeping their eligibility. On OpenSponsorship a brand finds athletes, agrees terms, and signs a contract for content or appearances, all in one place. Common formats are game-day and campus posts, product seeding, and local store visits, and the platform keeps the agreement and deliverables documented for compliance.

Use the location filters to narrow by country, state, or city, which is the natural way to target a specific school or college town. The roster is almost entirely United States based, so it suits both campus-level activations and broader regional buys. Brands and agencies in over 40 countries use the platform to run campaigns.

The average following is about 25K, firmly in micro-influencer territory where engagement and ROI tend to be strongest. Most of the roster sits in the niche and local tiers, with a smaller regional group, so brands are buying authenticity and conversion rather than raw reach. The pool grows steadily as more athletes join under NIL.

Create a profile, connect your social accounts, and set your own rates, then keep it current with recent content. Brands search and filter by sport, audience, platform, and location, so a complete profile is what gets you discovered. Once a brand messages you, terms and the NIL contract are handled on the platform so your deal stays documented.
NIL Sponsorship - Sponsor College Athletes · Page 4 ·