Agent Kailey Edwards on why selectivity beats volume when brand interest won't stop

Flau'jae Johnson's NIL valuation sits at $1.5 million. Shelomi Sanders, playing at Alabama A&M, is valued at $300K and signed a historic deal with Rihanna's Savage x Fenty. Female athletes now hold 52% of the top 100 college NIL deals, up from 38% a year prior.

The market moves fast, and not every brand moves with it. Agent Kailey Edwards sees it firsthand as dozens of offers land on her desk every week, and most miss the mark.

Today, she breaks down what those deals have in common.

🤿 Below the Surface

Here's what's on deck this week:

• Signal Strength: The three criteria Kailey Edwards uses to filter NIL deals

• In the Current: $3B in revenue, a $1B franchise, and 100+ schools playing flag football

• Blue Zone: See you in Cannes 👋 Deep Blue x iHeartMedia

• Shark Bite: Year one made the case. Year two, we’re going deeper

⚡️ Signal Strength  

When Every Brand Wants In, What Agents Say ‘No’ To Matters More

With rising commercial interest in women's sports, your pitch is competing against dozens of others landing on an agent's desk every week.

"While there's an influx in volume, not everything is the same, and not everything is worth it,” Edwards says.

By the numbers: 

• Women's sports NIL revenue grew 4.5x faster than men's sports from 2022–2024

• Female athletes hold 52% of the top 100 college NIL deals, up from 38% a year prior

• 58% of Americans and 64% of sports fans support college athletes earning through NIL

• Women’s sports NIL spend is projected to reach $663.3M by 2027–28, up from $305.9M in 2021–22. 

• Olivia Miles goes No. 2 to the Minnesota Lynx + Lauren Betts goes No. 4 to the Washington Mystics

• A record 6 players get WNBA draft slots from UCLA’s NCAA title team

She runs every inbound offer through three criteria. For brands, this is how the agent on the other side of the table decides whether your offer makes the cut.

1. The partnership has to be a real match.

Most brands lead with reach metrics. Edwards leads with whether the athlete actually uses the product. 

Brands that lead with reach cycle through partnerships that never build on each other, investing repeatedly without compounding any association.

2.  Athletes generate more consistent visibility than influencers.

An influencer posts content for a few weeks. An athlete competes on national television for months, generating visibility from the court to daily life. 

The brands getting it right are building around this presence. Venmo signed Olivia Miles as an NIL ambassador to launch Big 12 debit cards, and then routed athlete NIL payments directly into Venmo accounts and featured Miles in a national TV spot. 

This embedded Venmo into how Miles and her peers actually earn, spend, and live on campus, and that visibility compounds every time she plays, travels, or shows up on ESPN+.

3.  The best deals are built to grow.

Edwards pushes for 3–5+ year partnerships with incentives tied to social media growth milestones. 

With only 180 WNBA roster spots across 15 teams, NIL is how many women athletes build durable careers beyond college. Brands that show up early and stay earn loyalty that single campaigns never produce.

Read the full breakdown.

📰 In the Current  

We monitor the current so you can ride the wave. Here's what you need to know this week:

• Deloitte projects the global women's sports market will hit $3B in 2026, up 340% since 2022, with commercial partnerships leading all revenue streams at $1.4B and matchday revenue climbing from $748M to $911M year-over-year.

• PWHL San Jose completes the league's four-team expansion class, doubling the league to 12 teams since its January 2024 debut, with home games at SAP Center, which is slated for a $425M renovation.

• The Golden State Valkyries became the first women's sports franchise valued at $1B, after generating $78M in revenue in year one and selling 12K season tickets for year two.

• The NCAA voted to recommend official championship status for women's flag football, with more than 100 institutions fielding teams next year and a first national champion potentially crowned in spring 2028, months before the LA Olympics.

🦈 Blue Zone  

The Business of Women's Sports Summit is heading to Cannes

Deep Blue and iHeartMedia are teaming up to bring the Business of Women's Sports Summit to this year's Cannes Lions Festival.

One day only!

Join us at the iHeartCafe (directly across from the Palais) on Tuesday, June 23rd, from 9 am - 12 pm for conversations featuring some of the biggest stakeholders in women's sports. Agenda to follow.

Apply to attend by registering here.

Badge holders welcome.

🌊 Shark Bite

“The gap between the athlete who stays in sport and the one who walks away at 14 is not talent. It’s not desire. It’s a product that failed her. A research system that never studied her.

The WEF and McKinsey estimate closing the gender health gap unlocks $1 trillion in global economic value by 2040. That starts with keeping girls in sport long enough to become the athletes, fans, and leaders who build this industry for the next generation."

— Laura Correnti | CEO & Founder, Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment

Your pitch gets assessed before the athlete ever sees it. Make sure it survives the agent's desk.

– Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment

Interested in learning what Deep Blue is up to? Have an idea?  

Reach us at info@dbse.com.

Rising Tide is published by Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, the first-of-its-kind firm designed to identify, create, and influence business models and growth opportunities in women's sports for forward-thinking brands.