Sporting goods and sports merchandise are very popular topics and many people buy these products online.

That means it has a big potential if you work with affiliate marketing – if you find the right affiliate programs to join.

Finding the right programs to join to earn the best commissions can, however, be challenging. In this article, I will show you a list of the best sporting goods affiliate programs and sports merchandise affiliate programs.

They are of course all free and easy to join, so in many cases, you will be able to start promoting the products within hours.

Is sporting goods and merchandise a good affiliate niche?

Before getting to the list of the best affiliate programs to join, if you want to promote sporting goods or sports merchandise, let’s first look at the potential for this niche.

The reason I have included both sporting goods and sports merchandise in this list is that often they are offered by the same programs or the potential buyers are interested in both. But if you are only interested in one part of it, I will make it easy for you to see which programs offer what on the list below.

To look into the potential of this niche, you can of course just apply logic, which will make it clear that this will be a popular niche. But it is always good to include some data in decisions when it comes to running an online business.

So let’s first look at the trends according to Google for these topics:

The graph above shows the search trend during a year for sporting goods. 100 is the highest interest and means it is as an extremely popular search term. As you can see, sporting goods is very popular all year round. Let’s look at the popularity of the search term “sports merchandise”.

This is not quite as popular, but overall it still is a very hot topic, and especially around Christmas time it is very popular, which is probably because of people looking for Christmas gifts in this niche, which can be very useful knowledge.

So as you can see, not only logic tells us this could be a great niche, but the Google trends and data tell us as well.

Is the niche too competitive?

So it is definitely a popular niche, but is it too competitive or are there good chances for ranking in the search engines in this niche?

To look more into this, I used my favorite keyword research tool Jaaxy, and below I will show you a few examples of what it came up with.

Below you can see some data and ideas that came up when I used Jaaxy to look into search terms for top sporting goods:

The avg is the average monthly searches. For the terms that came up here, they might not seem very high. But if you do proper SEO optimization on your website, you will not only potentially get this traffic, but also for a lot of related terms. So even though the traffic potential might seem small, it will in most cases end up being a lot higher, so you should not only look at the avg.

What is also important to look at is the QSR (quoted search results), as it tells you about the competition. If your site is fairly new, this should preferably be below 100, as it would give you a good chance to rank. As you can see, there are plenty of terms that lives up to this.

And this is only for one search. You can keep digging deeper and find hundreds or thousands of other relevant keywords with high search volume and low competition.

But let me also give you an example for sports merchandise keywords:

As you can see the main term itself is a bit too competitive if your site is new, as it has a QSR higher than 100. But there are some other really great suggestions. For example college sports merchandise – it has an avg of 288 and QSR of 100. This makes it a keyword with a lot of traffic potential.

Again, you can dig deeper here and find thousands of other keywords with great potential.

So you should not worry too much about the competition in these areas. You can definitely find a lot of keywords and article ideas, you can rank for. The most important is that you approach affiliate marketing with dedication and are willing to make an effort. Then you will definitely be able to be successful in these niches.

==>Click to see my top recommended platform for learning proper affiliate marketing<==

The best sports affiliate programs

Now you know about the potential, so let us now get to the list of the best affiliate programs for sporting goods and sports merchandise.

The list is not in a prioritized order, as it depends very much on your angle and specific niche which program is the best. But all of these programs will give you a chance to earn commission by promoting great products through affiliate marketing.

Dick’s Sporting Goods

Products:
If you are interested in promoting sporting goods, Dick’s sporting goods is definitely an affiliate program worth considering. The website sells basically any product for any sport. So no matter what kind of sport your niche is about, you can very likely find relevant products here.

Since the website only ships to the US, you can only join, if you live in the US.

Commission:
The commission varies from product to product

Where to join:
You can apply directly on a site dedicated to Dick’s Sporting Goods affiliate program, but the actual program is managed through the affiliate network Impact Radius.

---

NFL affiliate program

Products:
If you want to promote any products related to NFL, this is the affiliate program to join. The NFL shop has its own affiliate program, and you can promote any product they have in the shop and earn a commission from it. The shop has NFL jerseys, hats, collectibles, tailgating gear, home and office equipment, and much more.

Be aware that you are not allowed to promote the products through PPC advertising and paid ads on Facebook.

Commission:
Up to 6%
7 days cookie time

Where to join:
You can join directly on the NFL shop website. However, the affiliate program is managed by the affiliate network ShareASale.

---

NHL affiliate program

Products:
If your affiliate niche is about hockey, the NHL affiliate program is great to join. You can promote any product the NHL webshop has on its site. So if you are promoting hockey, there are thousands of great products to promote here.

As the NFL program, the NHL program does not allow PPC ads or Facebook ads to promote their products.

Commission:
6%
7 days cookie time

Where to join:
You can join directly on the NHL shop website. However, the affiliate program is managed by the network ShareASale.

---

TeeOff.com

Products:
TeeOff.com is a great website to promote if you are in the golf niche. It is a website where people can book tee times on more than 3,000 golf courses worldwide. Through the affiliate program, you can earn commissions from tee times people book on the website.

Commission:
6%

Where to join:
You join the TeeOff affiliate program through the affiliate network CJ (Commission Junction).

---

Champions ID

Products:
Champions ID offers some quite interesting services if you have athletes visiting your website. It offers services within training, mentoring, sports video solutions, graphics, nutrition, talent solutions, and more.

And you can earn commissions by promoting any one of their services.

Commission:
20%

Where to join:
You can join through Champions ID’s own affiliate website.

---

Eastbay

Products:
Eastbay is a big webshop that has a lot of different products. It has a lot of sports equipment and clothing within many different sports, it has some of the most famous brands like Nike, Adidas, Puma, Levis, Timberland, Converse, etc. and it also has fan gear and sports merchandise for some sports.

Commission:
5%
7 day cookie time

Where to join:
You can join the Eastbay affiliate program through the affiliate network Rakuten.

---

Adidas

Products:
Adidas probably does not need much introduction. The brand has its own affiliate program you can join and earn commission by promoting its products. Be aware that the program is mainly looking for affiliates that have a target group of men and women between the age of 18-24, which makes the affiliate program quite limited compared to other programs.

Commission:
7%
30 day cookie time

Where to join:
You can join directly on Adidas’ affiliate site, but the program itself is managed by the network Impact Radius.

---

Speedo

Products:
Speedo is one of the most famous brands within swimwear. The brand has its own affiliate program, where you can earn commissions by promoting their products. Be aware that this affiliate program is currently only available for the US.

If you are in the swimming niche, you can also check out this list of the best swimming affiliate programs.

Commission:
7%

Where to join:
You can join on Speedo’s affiliate site, and the program is managed by the affiliate network Pepperjam.

---

Amazon Associates

Products:
Almost no matter what niche you are in, it is always worth considering the Amazon affiliate program.

If you cannot find affiliate programs for the specific sporting goods or sports merchandise you want to promote, you can almost be guaranteed find the products on Amazon. You can promote any product, you can find on Amazon, once you are an affiliate.

Commission:
0-10%
24 hours cookie time

Where to join:
You join Amazon’s affiliate program on the Amazon Associates website. Be aware that there is a program for each country, so you have to sign up for several Amazon programs if you want to promote to several countries.

---

Final thoughts

As you can see, there is a lot of potential in being an affiliate for sporting goods or sporting merchandise. It is a huge market, and there is still room for more affiliates.

Which of the affiliate programs sound the most appealing to you? And do you know any programs you think is missing on the list?

Also, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below, and I will get back to you asap.