A national insurer is putting its name on girls' flag football at the high school level, and the deal that gets it there is a renewal whose price neither side will share. On October 20, State Farm and Overtime, the sports media company and league operator behind Overtime Elite, Overtime Select and the OT7 7-on-7 football league, told Marketing Brew that State Farm will sponsor Overtime's first All-American girls flag football game as part of an extended partnership. The game, planned for next summer in partnership with NBC Sports, will feature top high school flag football athletes from around the country.
The headline is the new game. The structure underneath it matters as much. The flag sponsorship is one piece of a broader extension that keeps State Farm in Overtime's basketball and 7-on-7 football leagues and adds NIL deals with Overtime athletes. Marketing Brew's report carries no fee, no term length and no breakdown of what each piece is worth, so it's unclear whether flag football brings new money to Overtime or a share of a renewal that was coming anyway.
A Renewal With a New Property Attached
State Farm has partnered with Overtime on new properties before, including Overtime Elite and Overtime Select, and under the new deal the companies "will have worked together for six consecutive years," Marketing Brew reported. That figure describes the length of the relationship, not the length of this contract, and neither company gave an end date.
Marc Kohn, Overtime's president of content and media, told Marketing Brew that the long relationship is why State Farm got first dibs on the flag sponsorship.
"State Farm has always been a believer in what we've been building for the next generation of athletes," Kohn said.
As part of the deal, State Farm will be the presenting sponsor of the Girls Flag All-American Team selection, which Overtime will promote on its own channels and during NBC Sports' coverage of the Navy All-American Bowl, a high school football all-star game, and the OT7 championship. Kohn said further activations are likely but have yet to be finalized.
The game's date and venue haven't been announced. Marketing Brew describes the timing only as "next summer."
Why a Brand Wants In Early
Kristyn Cook, State Farm's chief agency, sales and marketing officer, said her team has already seen the business value of women's sports sponsorships and values getting involved with emerging sports early.
"We're excited to be in at the ground level of something that's net-new," Cook said. "That's not an opportunity you get as a brand every day, especially in the world of sports."
Marketing Brew notes that girls' and women's flag football has been gaining popularity at the youth and college levels ahead of the sport's Olympic debut at LA28. Kohn said Overtime executives have discussed breaking into flag football for a couple of years, and that when NBC, a past partner on Olympic content and high school football programming, reached out about flag, the decision was easy.
That sequence is the part worth watching. The broadcaster brought the idea, Overtime is building the event, and State Farm is paying to be attached before the first game exists. For a sport with no established high school all-star calendar, the sponsor is buying position rather than a proven audience, and the price of that position is the number missing from the record.
The NIL Piece
The expanded deal also has State Farm partnering with Overtime athletes across sports on content through NIL deals. Cook described the appeal as getting into sports culture through athletes rather than only at the league level.
"By incorporating NIL, we're able to build relationships with emerging talent earlier in their careers," she said.
Kohn tied the approach to how Overtime's audience watches. "A 16-year-old loves to watch other [teenagers] on YouTube, or on Instagram Stories, or on their TikTok," he told Marketing Brew. Cook acknowledged that not every youth athlete has a large following yet, and said NBC's broadcast coverage of OT7 helps carry the brand beyond the athletes' and Overtime's own platforms. Kohn made the same point from the media side. "Content is king, and it always will be," he said, "but distribution…is at least equally as important in so many different cases."
Neither company said how many athletes will sign NIL deals, what they'll be paid or whether any of them will come from the flag football game.
Takeaways for Investors
The Fee Is Undisclosed
Marketing Brew's report carries no financial figure for the extension, the flag sponsorship or the NIL deals. Without one, there's no way to tell what a national brand is paying to enter girls' flag football at the high school level.
Six Years Describes the Relationship, Not the Contract
The "six consecutive years" figure counts the whole partnership once this extension runs. The length of the new agreement itself wasn't given.
Flag Arrives Bundled
The girls flag game is sold inside a renewal that also covers basketball, 7-on-7 and NIL. How the fee splits across those pieces decides whether flag is new revenue for Overtime or a reallocation of an existing one.
Watch the Date and the Venue
Overtime hasn't named a date or venue for the game. Those details, and any added sponsors, will be the first sign of how big an event the companies are planning.
