NCAA Championship Sport Participation Hits Record in 2024-25

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (September 15, 2025) – The number of student-athletes participating in NCAA championship sports in 2024-25 climbed to 554,298, an all-time high, according to the latest data in the NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Report.

This is an increase of 15,368 from the 2023-24 academic year. 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), the data shows.

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 also include two additional NCAA championships. The inaugural National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships will occur March 6-7, with 111 teams across all three divisions competing. The first National Collegiate Women’s Fencing Championships will be held March 19-22. 

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.”