NCAA’s 2019 Report: “Estimated Probability of Competing in Professional Athletics”
More than 480,000 compete as NCAA athletes, and just a select few within each sport move on to compete at the professional or Olympic level.
The table presents of how many NCAA athletes move on to professional careers in sports like basketball, football, baseball and ice hockey. Professional opportunities are extremely limited and the likelihood of a high school or even college athlete becoming a professional athlete is very low.
In contrast, the likelihood of an NCAA athlete earning a college degree is significantly greater; graduation success rates are 86% in Division I, 71% in Division II and 87% in Division III.
Download the 2019 Probablility of Competing Beyond High School Figures and Methodology