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.
