Some 554,298 student athletes participated in NCAA championship sports in 2024-25, an all-time high according to the NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report. This represents an increase of 15,368 from the 2023-24 academic year.
The data also shows that for the first time since 1982, Division I participant counts in NCAA sports are more than 200,000 (202,353 for championship sports; 204,255 when combining with emerging sports). Division III had a championship sport participant count of 210,878, and Division II championship sport participants totaled 141,067 in 2024-25.
Sponsorship and participation in emerging sports increased by more than 20% in 2024-25; across three divisions, 6,992 athletes participated in emerging sports in 2024-25.
In the 2024-25 academic year, schools across all three divisions sponsored 19,928 teams in NCAA championship sports, which is an all-time high and 62 more than 2023-24.
Division I schools added 87 sponsored programs for a total of 6,750 in championship sports. Counting both championship and emerging sports together, Division I schools sponsored 6,812 NCAA sports in 2024-25, in which 204,255 student-athletes participated. This is an increase over the 198,483 student-athletes who participated in championships and emerging sports at the Division I level in 2023-24.
Division II schools sponsored 5,021 championship sport teams, and Division III saw 8,157 championship sport teams compete.
The 2025-26 season will include two additional NCAA championships. The inaugural National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championships and the National Collegiate Women’s Fencing Championships will both occur in March. Previously, the fencing championships were a combined event where a school’s men’s and women’s results were combined to determine one NCAA champion. This year there will be a women’s national championship team and a men’s national championship team.
“The NCAA sports sponsorship and participation rates show that opportunities for student-athletes continue to increase,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said. "With the addition of women's wrestling and fencing championships, it offers more student-athletes the chance to experience competition at the highest levels of their collegiate athletics careers."