US college sports’ NCAA governing body has struck a wide-ranging new agreement with the sports media and marketing technology firm Playfly Sports, which has now become a sponsorship sales agent for the organization.
Going forward, Playfly Sports will sell locally focused sponsorship packages concerning NCAA events’ host areas.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
This will include events such as the NCAA Women’s National Basketball Championship Final Four, or the baseball College World Series National Championship.
But this will exclude the Division I men’s basketball “March Madness” Final Four, the sponsorship sales rights for which are managed by the CBS Sports and TNT Sports broadcasters.
Inventory on sale will center on student-athletes, coaches, athletics directors, administrators, and the broader college athletics membership inventory, meaning that there is potential for name, image, and likeness (NIL) money for athletes through the agreement
Perhaps crucially, this inventory will not clash with sponsorship inventory already sold as part of the NCAA’s Corporate Champions and Partners Program (which is what the Division I men’s basketball Final Four falls under).
To this end, Playfly will hire dedicated staff members to manage local commercial revenue growth around championships.
Speaking on the announcement, NCAA president Charlie Baker commented: “We worked with the Playfly team on asset valuation in 2024 and were impressed by their dedication and results.
“Playfly’s network of resources and relationships will provide benefits that could positively impact every school across our organization, provide added visibility to NCAA programs, and make us better and stronger amid the evolving landscape of college athletics.”
Playfly Sports Properties president Christy Hedgpeth added: “The NCAA is simultaneously entrenched with colleges on the local and national level, providing a unique opportunity to drive new sources of income. As they seek to move the organization toward a stronger focus on revenue generation, there is no better team to support their growth than Playfly.”
Playfly, for its part, already has experience in this sector.
Back in December 2025, the firm was tapped by the Pac-12 college football conference to "build a centralized revenue engine powered by data, valuation expertise, and scalable brand integrations."
