Key Takeaways
- State Farm will sponsor Overtime’s first All-American girls flag football game, planned for summer 2027 in partnership with NBC Sports.
- The extended agreement keeps State Farm across Overtime Elite, Overtime Select, and OT7, bringing the relationship to six consecutive years.
- A new NIL component pairs State Farm with individual Overtime athletes across sports, adding athlete-level deals on top of league sponsorships.
- State Farm will also present the Girls Flag All-American Team selection, promoted on Overtime channels and during NBC Sports broadcasts.
State Farm has secured the girls flag football sponsorship for Overtime’s inaugural All-American game, part of an extended partnership between the insurance brand and the sports media company, the two told Marketing Brew. The game, planned for next summer in partnership with NBC Sports, will bring together top high school flag football players from across the country and distribute the event across traditional broadcast and Overtime’s social platforms.
The flag property is the newest piece of a broader renewal. State Farm will continue sponsoring Overtime’s basketball leagues, Overtime Elite and Overtime Select, along with its OT7 7-on-7 football league, and the new agreement adds an NIL element for the first time.
What the Extended Deal Covers
Under the renewal, State Farm becomes the presenting sponsor of the Girls Flag All-American Team selection. That selection process will run across Overtime’s channels and surface during NBC Sports coverage of the Navy All-American Bowl, a high school football all-star game, as well as the OT7 championship.
Overtime’s Marc Kohn, president of content and media, told Marketing Brew that State Farm’s long tenure with the company earned it the first opportunity on the flag sponsorship. Once the new deal runs its course, the two companies will have worked together for six straight years, a span that included State Farm signing on to new Overtime properties like Elite and Select at or near launch. Kohn said additional activations are likely but not yet finalized.
Why Is Girls Flag Football Drawing Brand Investment?
Girls and women’s flag football has been growing at the youth and college levels ahead of the sport’s Olympic debut at the LA28 Games, and Overtime executives had discussed entering the sport for a couple of years, per Kohn. The company sees its strengths in audience development and athlete storytelling as a fit for a sport still building its star system.
The NBC Sports connection made the timing work. The two companies have collaborated before on Olympic content and high school football programming, and NBC approached Overtime about the flag concept.
For State Farm, the appeal is early entry. Kristyn Cook, the brand’s chief agency, sales, and marketing officer, told Marketing Brew that State Farm has already seen returns from women’s sports sponsorships and views emerging sports as a chance to establish a position before categories get crowded.
NIL Moves State Farm Closer to the Athlete
The expanded deal’s NIL component will have State Farm partnering directly with Overtime athletes across sports on content. That approach matches how Overtime has built its properties, constructing leagues around individual players and giving young athletes distribution before they turn pro. Kohn noted that teenage audiences gravitate toward watching athletes their own age on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok rather than older stars on television.
Cook framed the athlete deals as relationship building with talent earlier in their careers, while NBC’s broadcast coverage of OT7 extends State Farm’s exposure beyond social reach alone. For brands watching where youth sports media is headed, the structure is instructive: league sponsorship for scale, NIL for cultural credibility, and broadcast for incremental audience.
First in Line for a Sport Headed to LA28
State Farm’s position in the deal reflects a simple dynamic: long-tenured sponsors get first access when a partner launches something new. With flag football two years from its Olympic debut and an All-American game now on the calendar for summer 2027, State Farm has locked in the marquee youth property in the sport before most national brands have entered the category. The first kickoff arrives next summer. The activations around it are still being written.
Source: Marketing Brew, Alyssa Meyers, October 20, 2026, https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/state-farm-overtime-girls-flag-football
Image: Megan Mendoza/The Republic
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Youth Sports Business Report (YSBR) is the largest and most trusted media platform covering the business of youth sports worldwide. YSBR delivers youth sports news, market intelligence, and original analysis daily across facilities, sponsorships, private equity, NIL, sports technology, and league operations. With more than 50,000 followers, YSBR is the leading source of youth sports industry news for the investors, owners, operators, and brands shaping the future of youth sports.
How big is the youth sports market?
American families spend approximately $54 billion annually on kids’ sports and recreation, according to the YSBR and Kinetica Group Youth Sports TAM & Parent Spending Report, with organized sports alone representing a $40 billion-plus market. The average family spent $1,016 on a child’s primary sport in 2024, up 46 percent since 2019, per the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, and market research projects the global youth sports market will reach approximately $114 billion by 2032 (Business Research Insights).
How many kids play youth sports in the United States?
Approximately 27.3 million children ages 6 to 17, or about 54.6 percent, played organized sports in 2022-2023, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health as reported by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play. High school sports participation reached a record 8.26 million athletes in 2024-25, per the NFHS.
Who founded Youth Sports Business Report?
Youth Sports Business Report was founded by Cameron Korab, a sports marketing veteran with more than a decade in the industry and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Korab also co-founded Vertical Sports, a sports marketing advisory serving brands across youth, college, and pro sports.
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YSBR delivers original reporting and market intelligence on youth sports facilities, youth sports technology, sponsorship and brand partnerships, private equity and venture capital deals, NIL policy, coaching development, equipment and apparel, tournaments and events, and community sports initiatives. Readers include industry executives, investors, facility owners and operators, league administrators, and youth sports parents.
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Hosted by Cameron Korab, founder of Youth Sports Business Report, Jr. Sports Marketing features candid 1-on-1 conversations with the brands, athletes, leagues, and innovators building the future of youth sports. Each episode breaks down how the smartest brands are activating, building equity, and winning with youth sports families. If you’re an operator, founder, investor, or marketer trying to understand where this space is headed, this is your show.
Youth Sports Marketing Questions, Answered
Where can brands sponsor youth sports? Brands can sponsor youth sports through local leagues and clubs, tournaments and events, facilities and complexes, governing bodies, and national platform programs. Sponsoring a child’s own program is the most powerful entry point: 81 percent of parents say it captures their attention, outperforming TV, social media, and pro sports sponsorship, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study conducted by YouGov Sport.
How much does youth sports sponsorship cost? Youth sports sponsorship costs range from a few thousand dollars for a local league or team sponsorship to six and seven figures for regional facility naming rights and national platform programs. The environment is welcoming at every level: 84 percent of parents hold net positive sentiment toward brands sponsoring youth sports, with negative sentiment under 5 percent, per YouGov Sport research. Most brands start with a pilot activation, measure engagement, then scale.
What is the ROI of youth sports marketing? The data is striking: 80 percent of parents say they would choose the brand that sponsors their child’s youth sports program when comparing two similar products, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study by YouGov Sport. A 2026 EMARKETER and DICK’S Media survey found 84 percent of sports parents say that role influences their purchase decisions, and 60 percent spend more on game and practice days, driving loyalty across categories from dining to travel to automotive.
Ready to build a youth sports strategy? Vertical Sports is an Advisory+ delivering integrated expertise across all levels of sport. Youth, College, Pro. Every Fan, Every Level. Brands and youth sports organizations can reach the team at info@verticalsports.us.
