Athletic Scholarships

What Athletic Scholarships does

Athletic Scholarships, doing business as NCSA College Recruiting, operates a two-sided online marketplace that connects prospective student-athletes with college coaches across NCAA Division 1–3 and NAIA programs. Founded in 2002 and based in Monterey, California, the company's core asset is a cloud-based recruiting platform offering free athlete profiles, a searchable directory of more than 40,000 college programs and 50,000+ college coaches, direct messaging with read receipts, and a College Match Analysis tool. Distribution runs through the main website, native iOS and Android apps, dedicated portals for parents/athletes and college coaches, and free online and in-person recruiting workshops.

Monetization follows a freemium-to-premium subscription model: athletes create profiles at no cost, then upgrade through tiered annual memberships (Champion, Elite, MVP, MVP+) that progressively unlock direct coach messaging, recruiting coaching, and 1-on-1 guidance. A network of 1,100+ mostly former college athletes and coaches delivers coaching services, while official partnerships with 14 national sports governing bodies (NAIA, NJCAA, AAU, and 11 USA federations) plus an integration with IMG Academy extend the offering into athlete development, mental performance, and nutrition. The company is privately held, operates exclusively in the U.S. market, and reports 30,000+ athlete college commitments in 2025 alongside 5M+ annual profile views by college coaches.

Name

Athletic Scholarships

Legal name

NCSA College Recruiting

Website

https://athleticscholarships.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Athletic Scholarships (dba NCSA College Recruiting) runs a U.S. online marketplace connecting student-athletes with college coaches across NCAA D1–D3 and NAIA, monetizing through tiered annual memberships and 1-on-1 recruiting coaching.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

College Athletic Recruiting Platform

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171), Educational Support Services (611710), Sports and Recreation Instruction (611620)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Athletic Recruitment & NCAA/NAIA Eligibility Counseling (EDANAEAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

College Recruiting & Scholarship Advisory / Athlete Placement (HSADAEAL), Sports Fundraising & Development Services (Foundations, NIL Collectives Support) (MPAKAKAK)

Keywords

• College athletic recruiting
• Student-athlete profile platform
• NCAA recruiting network
• Athletic scholarship services
• Recruiting coaching services

Headquarters

HQ city

Monterey

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Freemium Subscription Model: Free basic profile provides limited access to college coach directory and college search. Premium tiers (Champion, Elite, MVP, MVP+) offer enhanced features including direct messaging to college coaches, 1-on-1 recruiting coaching, match analysis, and development coaching from IMG Academy.
2. Premium Membership Subscriptions: Tiered subscription model with Champion, Elite, MVP, and MVP+ membership levels providing escalating access to recruiting tools, coaching services, and development resources.
3. Professional Coaching Services: 1-on-1 recruiting and developmental coaching services available through premium memberships, including mental performance coaching and IMG Academy coaching.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Athletic Scholarships (dba NCSA College Recruiting) runs an online college athletic recruiting platform that lets student-athletes create free recruiting profiles visible to college coaches, search and match against NCAA D1-D3 and NAIA programs, and message coaches directly. It monetizes via tiered annual memberships (Champion, Elite, MVP, MVP+) that unlock direct coach messaging, match analysis, and 1-on-1 recruiting coaching, and bundles IMG Academy developmental coaching as a premium upsell.

Product overview

NCSA College Recruiting operates as a college athletic recruiting platform connecting student-athletes with college coaches across NCAA Divisions 1, 2, 3, and NAIA schools. The core offering is the NCSA College Recruiting Platform, which provides a free athlete profile with optional premium memberships (Champion, Elite, MVP, MVP+) unlocking advanced features like direct coach messaging, 1-on-1 recruiting coaching, and College Match Analysis. The platform integrates with IMG Academy for developmental coaching services, including the IMG Academy+ mobile app for mental performance and nutrition. Additional offerings include recruiting workshops, a college search tool, and a mobile app for managing recruitment activities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• IMG Academy+: Mental Performance & Nutrition app offered by IMG Academy, integrated with NCSA recruiting services
• NCSA Athletic Recruiting

Products and services

• NCSA College Recruiting Platform The core online platform connecting student-athletes with college coaches across NCAA Division 1, 2, 3, and NAIA schools. Provides profile building, direct messaging to coaches, college search tools, and recruiting guidance for student-athletes and families.
• NCSA Membership Plans (Champion, Elite, MVP, MVP+) Tiered annual subscription memberships sold to student-athletes and families. Champion enables direct messaging to college coaches with read receipts; Elite adds college match analysis; MVP adds 1-on-1 recruiting coaching with a personal Recruiting Coach; MVP+ is the top tier with maximum recruiting exposure and full coaching support.
• NCSA Athletic Recruiting Mobile App Mobile application available on iOS App Store and Google Play Store that lets student-athletes manage recruiting activities, profiles, messaging, and college search from their phones.
• IMG Academy Developmental Coaching (Essentials + 1-on-1) Athletic development coaching delivered via IMG Academy, including Essentials on-demand drills, workshops, courses, and 1-on-1 coaching for student-athletes to improve performance beyond recruiting. Offered to NCSA premium members as part of the integrated experience.
• IMG Academy+ Mobile App Mobile app providing mental performance coaching and nutrition guidance for student-athletes, available on iOS and tied to the IMG Academy family of services integrated with NCSA.

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• IMG AcademycoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerIMG Academy provides developmental coaching and training resources (Essentials, 1-on-1 coaching) that are integrated with NCSA's recruiting platform for premium members. NCSA is part of the IMG Academy family of companies.
• NAIAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Association of Intercollegiate Athletics partnership providing recruiting network access and eligibility resources for NAIA member schools.
• NJCAAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Junior College Athletic Association partnership supporting recruiting and eligibility for NJCAA schools.
• AAUmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAmateur Athletic Union partnership for youth sports recruiting integration.
• USA Field HockeymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational governing body partnership for field hockey recruiting resources.
• USA VolleyballmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational governing body partnership for volleyball recruiting resources.
• USA HockeymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational governing body partnership for hockey recruiting resources.
• USA Track and FieldmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational governing body partnership for track and field recruiting resources.
• USA WrestlingmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational governing body partnership for wrestling recruiting resources.
• USA BaseballmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational governing body partnership for baseball recruiting resources.
• US Youth SoccermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational youth soccer organization partnership for recruiting resources.
• USA LacrossemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational governing body partnership for lacrosse recruiting resources.
• USA Water PolomajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational governing body partnership for water polo recruiting resources.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• FieldLevel: Athletic recruiting network connecting high school athletes with college coaches. Overlaps directly with NCSA's athlete-to-coach marketplace model and customer segments.
• BeRecruited: Free college athletic recruiting platform where athletes build profiles that coaches can search. Closely comparable to NCSA's free tier and targets the same high school athlete demographic.
• CaptainU: College athletic recruiting platform that helps high school athletes build profiles and connect with college coaches. Comparable product scope (profiles, messaging, college search) and target customer base to NCSA.
• Hudl: Dominant video and analytics platform used by high school and college athletic programs. While its core is video breakdowns, Hudl has expanded into recruiting workflows and competes directly with NCSA for the same athlete/coach audience.
• SportsRecruits: Subscription-based college athletic recruiting platform for student-athletes, offering profiles, college search, and messaging to coaches — a near-direct competitor to NCSA's freemium model.

Broad incumbents

• Rivals: Long-standing college football and basketball recruiting media network with scouting and rankings. Comparable audience and recruiting-intelligence use case as NCSA's coach-side product, though Rivals is content-led rather than profile-led.
• 247Sports: Major collegiate sports media and recruiting scouting network. Provides recruiting rankings, news, and coach-facing tools that overlap with NCSA's coach-side value proposition, though 247Sports is primarily a content/scouting business.
• On3: College sports media and recruiting intelligence platform offering NIL valuations and recruiting data. Comparable to NCSA on the coach/recruiting analytics side and increasingly competitive in NIL — a category NCSA also touches.

Emerging players

• RecruitReel: Video highlight and recruiting platform for student-athletes. Overlaps with NCSA on the athlete profile/video side but is smaller and more focused on highlight reels than a full recruiting marketplace.

Others

• IMG Academy: Sports training academy that is both a corporate affiliate of NCSA and a broader competitor in athlete development/coaching. Included as a peer because it overlaps in developmental coaching (the IMG Academy integration that NCSA bundles) and is part of the same sports-services ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/athnet
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@ncsa
• Facebookfacebook.com/athnet
• Instagraminstagram.com/ncsa_sports
• TikToktiktok.com/@ncsa_sports
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/athnet

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Athletic Scholarships