Sports brands have always understood the power of influence. From Muhammad Ali’s Adidas endorsements in the 1970s to Michael Jordan’s legendary partnership with Nike, which generated more than $7 billion in revenue in 2024, brands have long understood the value of having a sports icon in their corner. What’s changed is everything else: the platforms, the creators, the audiences, and the rules of the game.
The global influencer marketing industry is expected to grow from $27.54 billion in 2026 to nearly $90 billion by 2034, with sports and fitness consistently ranking among the top-performing verticals. The proliferation of social media has democratized access to audiences, meaning a 22-year-old with 8,000 passionate followers can, in the right context, outperform a celebrity athlete with millions.
This post breaks down the key trends shaping the future of influencer marketing for sports brands, so you can build a strategy that’s built for where the industry is heading.
Sports brands are shifting toward micro and nano-influencers.
For years, influencer marketing followed a pretty straightforward formula: find a famous athlete or celebrity, put your product in their hands, and let their massive following do the rest. But brands are increasingly looking beyond follower count.
Smaller creators can often generate much stronger engagement. Influencer Marketing Hub reports that Instagram accounts with fewer than 15,000 followers average a 3.86% engagement rate, compared with just 1.21% for accounts with more than one million followers. The numbers decline steadily as follower counts rise, suggesting that a bigger audience does not necessarily mean a more engaged one.
For sports brands, that distinction matters. A creator with a smaller following built around running, cycling, climbing, or another specific sport may reach fewer people overall, but those followers are often there because they share the same interests. That community connection is becoming increasingly valuable in sports marketing. Run clubs and other grassroots fitness communities are attracting brand partnerships precisely because they give companies access to smaller, more tightly connected groups of consumers.
As Vogue Business has reported, brands are increasingly partnering with community organizers (like running clubs) because of the trust and real-world relationships those organizers have built with their audiences. Rather than treating reach as the only measure of influence, brands have an opportunity to work with the people who already have credibility within the communities they want to reach.
Athletes are becoming their own media platforms.
One of the biggest shifts in sports influencer marketing is that athletes are becoming creators in their own right. Instead of simply appearing in someone else’s campaign, many now have their own audiences, content strategies, businesses, and distinct voices online.
LeBron James and Naomi Osaka have taken that idea well beyond social media. James co-founded The SpringHill Company, a media and entertainment business built around original storytelling, while Osaka launched her own media company, Hana Kuma, with backing from SpringHill. In both cases, the athlete isn’t just the subject of the content. They’re helping decide what gets made and how those stories are told.
Cristiano Ronaldo shows just how powerful the direct-to-fan model can be. As of July 2026, he had roughly 677 million Instagram followers, making him the most-followed individual on the platform. That gives him an audience few traditional advertising channels can match on their own.
Younger athletes have taken a similar approach on TikTok and Instagram. Former LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne built an audience of more than 12 million followers across the two platforms while competing in college gymnastics.
For brands, this changes the relationship with athlete partners. Athletes don’t necessarily need a media company or traditional publisher to give them an audience anymore, since they already have one. That opens the door to partnerships that go beyond a sponsored post, from ongoing content series and creative collaborations to athlete-led products and larger brand partnerships.
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Short-form video is dominating sports influencer content.
Sports and short-form video are a natural fit. A game-winning shot, a brutal training session, or a funny moment on the sidelines can tell a story in seconds. That has made platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts increasingly important to the way fans follow sports between games.
And sports already has a massive audience on these platforms. TikTok reports that 75% of its adult users are sports fans, while 57% watch sports content on the platform every week. The appeal also goes well beyond highlights. Fans are watching reactions, behind-the-scenes footage, analysis, athlete personalities, and the culture surrounding the game.
The NBA is a good example of how sports organizations have adapted. Instead of treating social media as a dumping ground for TV highlights, the league has built content around the way people actually use these platforms. In July 2026, TikTok and the NBA announced an expanded partnership, noting that the NBA and WNBA had a combined 30 million followers on TikTok. The partnership also gives creators greater access to major league events and connects social content directly to information about where fans can watch games.
Live video is another emerging medium for sports content and marketing. Platforms such as YouTube and Twitch allow athletes, creators, and sports organizations to interact with viewers as something is happening, whether that means answering questions, taking fans behind the scenes, or reacting to an event in real time.
The success of Twitch’s Streamer Bowl series earlier this year, in partnership with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), is one example of how live formats can bring together sports, creators, and fans in a more immediate and interactive way.
Connecting with the right influencers.
Follower count was never a reliable proxy for impact, but for a long time, it was the easiest number to point to. That era is ending.
Key metrics now include:
- Engagement rate: Likes, comments, shares, and saves relative to follower count
- Audience demographics: Age, gender, geography, and interests of an influencer’s actual followers
- Sentiment analysis: The tone and quality of audience responses to content
- Brand safety scoring: Content history and association risks
- Earned media value (EMV): The estimated dollar value of organic content generated
What's Next for Sports Influencer Marketing?
Sports influencer marketing is moving beyond follower counts and one-off celebrity endorsements. The strategies gaining ground are more focused on finding the right communities, building credible partnerships, and creating content that fits naturally into the places fans already spend their time.
For brands, now is a good time to take another look at existing influencer partnerships. Are you working with creators whose audiences overlap with the people you actually want to reach? Does the partnership make sense beyond the creator’s follower count? Are you giving creators enough freedom to make content their audiences will respond to? And are you measuring what happens after that content goes live?
Sports fans have more ways than ever to follow athletes, teams, creators, and communities. The opportunity for brands goes beyond simply getting in front of those audiences and lies in finding a credible place within the conversations they are already having.