Sprouts Farmers Market signs NIL deals with top stars to celebrate Women's History Month

With Women’s History Month in full swing, Sprouts Farmers Market celebrated by signing a host of female athletes to NIL deals.

Sprouts announced partnerships with eight notable athletes, headlined by Stanford basketball star Cameron Brink ahead of March Madness. Maryland gymnast Hailey Merchant, Oklahoma gymnast Jordan Bowers, BYU basketball standout Lauren Gustin, Arizona softball infielder Logan Cole, Temple gymnast Brooke Donabedian, TCU basketball and volleyball player Sarah Sylvester, and Texas softball infielder Alyssa Washington are also on board.

“Sprouts’ remains steadfast in our commitment to elevate women’s athletics through ongoing NIL partnerships with talented female athletes,” said Alisa Gmelich, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Sprouts Farmers Market, in a statement. “We’re thrilled to extend our support with eight new partnerships, reaffirming our ongoing dedication to empowering women and fostering opportunities for women in athletics.”

This isn’t Sprouts’ first major NIL venture. The company previously signed 50 NIL deals to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX in June 2022 and agreed to partnerships with 45 athletes in 2023.

All told, Sprout has more than 150 agreements in place with women’s athletes across the country.

Sprouts continues women’s NIL support

Brink is the biggest star to join forces with Sprouts as part of this latest partnership. The projected No. 2 overall pick in this year’s WNBA Draft, she was the Pac-12 Player and Defensive Player of the Year to help Stanford to a No. 2 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, which tips off this week.

It’s been a big week on the NIL front for Brink.

She also joined forces with Keurig and Topps as she prepares for her final March Madness after declaring for the draft earlier this month. She also announced another partnership with Bumble recently. With 540,000 followers on social media, Brink currently ranks No. 16 in the On3 Women’s NIL 100 – the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 women’s high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.

Bowers’ list of achievements is also impressive as a decorated gymnast at Oklahoma. A five-time All-American, she won gold in the All-Around at the 2023 Big 12 Championships as she helped the Sooners to back-to-back titles.

Donabedian is also in the midst of an impressive career at Temple. She holds the school’s record score for a floor routine, achieving a 9.950 twice. She also qualified for the NCAA Regional in both 2022 and 2023, and will try to do so again this year with the East Atlantic Gymnastics League Championships starting this weekend.