Breaking news + setting records: What you missed at BOWS

We're all feeling the momentum in women's sports right now, and it's clear we can't afford to lift our foot off the gas. 

The next generation shouldn't have to spend their careers being the “first” — they should get to focus on being the best. That means moving past the why and focusing entirely on the how: more capital, more infrastructure, more brands willing to build alongside us.

We just wrapped our 4th annual Business of Women's Sports Summit in NYC this week, and the energy in every single session and conversation was unmatched. This is where the business of women's sports moves forward.

Laura Correnti

Founder & CEO
Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment

Huge thank you to our sponsors - GEICO, Invisalign, Gainbridge, Ally Financial, Google Pixel, Warner Bros. Discovery Advertising, TeamSnap & iHeart Women's Sports - and to our partners Rebel Girls, PopUp Bagels, Dig Inn & Glamsquad for making this day what it was.

🦈 Blue Zone  

5 major industry milestones broke live on stage — from a new JCPenney athlete campaign to GEICO's multi-year partnership with the Dallas Wings. Here's the full rundown.

1. Our Next Move: Deep Blue Ventures Launches With First Investment → LOVB San Francisco

We’re proud to announce the launch of our investment arm. As Laura said, “when women lead the investment, the entire ecosystem thrives.”

LOVB (League One Volleyball) has been building out its ownership and franchise model. The team debuts in January 2027 led by president Stephanie Martin in the Bay Area that's added Bay FC, the Golden State Valkyries, and now LOVB SF in back-to-back years, proof that the demand for women's professional sports is outpacing supply.

Why this matters: We’ve spent years advising brands on where and how to put money into women’s sports. But to build the pathway for the next generation, we need more than applause - we need capital. Now we're putting ours in.

2. JCPenney Launches "Inside Lane"

JCPenney debuted its first women’s sports partnership live on stage, signing five women's basketball players:

• Jackie Young (3x WNBA Champion, 2x Olympic Gold Medalist, 4x WNBA All Star, 2018, #1 Overall Draft Pick, NCAA Champion)

• Audi Crooks (College Basketball Student-Athlete & NCAA's Second-Leading Scorer)

• Gabriela Jaquez (NCAA National Champion, UCLA & First-Round WNBA Draft Pick)

• KK Arnold (College Basketball Student-Athlete at UConn & NCAA National Champion)

• Stefanie Dolson (2x NCAA Champion, WNBA champion, 2x WNBA All-Star, Olympic Gold Medalist)

The athletes curated shoppable looks on JCPenney's website, and they’re available to anyone. As JCPenney’s EVP and Chief Customer & Marketing Officer, Marisa Thalberg puts it: "We are subbing out exclusivity and opening the tunnel walk to all. No luxury tag. No insider access. Just great style for everyday moments."

Why this matters: Women’s sports culture is driving influence - but growth depends on access. JCPenney is removing the traditional barriers to entry, turning athlete style into an inclusive, everyday experience that fans can actually participate in.

3. GEICO + Dallas Wings: A Multi-Year Partnership

GEICO launched a multi-year partnership with the Dallas Wings live on stage alongside CMO Arianna Arpello and Greg Bibb, the CEO and Managing Partner of Dallas Wings. 

Weeks earlier, GEICO signed Azzi Fudd (the #1 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft) as its first female athlete endorsement. 

The partnership includes:

• Experiential game day activations

• Team storytelling

• Community programs

• Presenting sponsorship of Dallas Wings Youth Basketball Summer Camps

The Wings are planning a 50% increase in youth programs this season alone. Both the Wings and GEICO handled the deal in-house, reportedly closing it in about three days.

Why this matters: For CMOs building a women's sports portfolio, this is a case study in layered investment → start narrow, then widen. GEICO followed a deliberate sequence: sign the athlete, establish credibility, then expand to team infrastructure. 

4. Ally Financial Hits Its 50/50 Sports Media Pledge 

Ally Financial CMO Andrea Brimmer revealed that Ally achieved its 50/50 sports media pledge - equal spend between men's and women's sports - a full year ahead of schedule. 

Brimmer's main argument: stop measuring women's sports against men's sports benchmarks. 

"We're creating the CPMs," she said. She pointed to three specific proof points: getting the first NWSL Championship into prime time on CBS (growing from ~300K viewers at noon on a Saturday to nearly 1M viewers in prime time), securing PWHL on national TV in the U.S., and investing in emerging platforms like Just Women's Sports and Togethxr.

Her message to CMOs: “Just start somewhere. Don't be so afraid to get in and dip your toe in,” she said. There's nothing about this that's going to blow up in your face. Invest in an athlete, do an NIL deal, do a team sponsorship, buy some media... just start building.”

Why this matters: Less than 6% of Fortune 500 companies currently sponsor women's sports. Brimmer put four years of hard data on the table and gave the rest of the room permission to move.

5. WNBPA Partners with JPMorganChase for Player Financial Education

Tara Bakhle, Executive Director of Sports & Entertainment Marketing, JPMorganChase, disclosed a new partnership with the WNBPA to establish a financial education program for players. 

With the WNBA and WNBPA's historic new CBA projecting more than $1 billion in player salaries and benefits over the life of the agreement, financial infrastructure around players matters more than ever — planning, wealth management, career transition support, all of it, to make those earnings sustainable over a full career and beyond.

The initiative will give players access to dedicated wealth-building resources and support through JPMorganChase's existing programs.

Why this matters: Player financial literacy is a commercial investment in league stability. The long-term deals brands need confidence to sign depend on the kind of player-side infrastructure JPMorganChase is now helping build.

🔎 Watch the Water

• Indiana Fever Unveil $78M Sports Performance Center.
  PS&E released the first interior renderings of their training facility set to open before the 2027 season — the largest and most advanced in the WNBA. For context: the Fever went from ~4,000 fans per game in 2023 to leading the league in attendance at 17,000+. This is what downstream investment from that growth looks like.
  

• Pacers Sports & Entertainment Launches Fieldhouse Media Network. PS&E also launched the first retail media network in professional sports built on first-party data from ~250M fans, developed with Deloitte & Yieldmo. For Fever sponsors, this shifts what a team partnership can deliver from arena signage to measurable, always-on audience access.
  

• ATHLOS appoints CMO Kayla Green as Acting President. The global athletics league is putting a marketing-first leader in its top operational seat as it prepares for international expansion - a sign of how tightly brand-building and business operations are merging at the league level.

🌊 Shark Bite

“Only 2% of venture capital is run by women — 98% is still predominantly men. I love that more of them are leaning into this ecosystem — it confirms what we’ve known all along.

But I want to see more women owning the power of capital and taking advantage of how early these businesses are.

The earlier you get in, you can prove the model and scale quickly… and the multiples can happen in a very short period of time.”

— Assia Grazioli-Venier | Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Muse Capital

As we saw during the summit, the infrastructure being built around women's sports is moving as fast as the on-court product.

How is your brand keeping up?

– Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment

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

Reach us at [email protected]

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.