Rising Tide 🦈 June 26, 2025

🤿 Below the Surface

• Blue Zone: Dispatch from Cannes - Dive into the Deep Blue Women’s Sports Yacht Club

• Signal Strength: How to Break Free From Men’s Sports Models

• In the Current: The Growth of Women’s Soccer, LA Gets a Women’s Sports Bar, and more

🦈 Blue Zone  

Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment returned to Cannes this year to debut the Women’s Sports Yacht Club, which featured three days of programming, events and experiences. Key takeaways included: 

Partnering with Female Athletes Drives Business Outcomes

Marketing executives from MassMutual and CeraVe joined the Women’s Sports Yacht Club stage to discuss partnering with female athletes to generate brand awareness, resonance and results.

By partnering with Flau’jae Johnson, Christen Press and Madison Keys, MassMutual leveraged authentic storytelling to highlight the importance of being financially prepared. More here on the Female Financial Confidence Gap.

CeraVe partnered with Paige Bueckers, a pre-existing brand consumer, to move the bottom line. Upon announcing their partnership with the 2025 WNBA’s #1 draft pick, the brand saw a 3x return.

Designing and Making the Future of Women's Sports Means Writing New Playbooks

Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder joined Women’s Basketball legend Sue Bird to discuss their individual roles in re-thinking how to approach a massive tradition in sports - the Olympics.

Autodesk plans to make a tangible impact as the Official Design & Make platform of LA28, where the brand can help achieve the games’ “zero build” goal by retrofitting 40+ venues across SoCal. Whereas, Bird will serve as the first ever GM for Team USA Women’s Basketball, taking ownership of a role that previously did not exist to add an innovative perspective on building and preparing a team that’s built on excellence (and hasn’t lost an Olympic game since 1992!), while still striving for growth.

Investment In and Through Women's Sports has Tangible Longtail Benefits

Women’s sports icon Alex Morgan joined JPMorganChase’s CMO Carla Hassan to announce that she’s joining Chase Champions as she expands her investment portfolio, which currently includes Unrivaled, San Diego Wave FC, TOGETHXR, and ScorePlay. 

As we sit on the verge of a $100T+ generational wealth transfer, largely expected to be passed to women, brands like JPMC are partnering with women in sports who are active in the investment space - leveraging their influence and playing experience to not only impact the business of women’s sports, but all women who mean business. 

Morgan joins a growing roster of Chase Champions that most recently includes WNBA superstar A’ja Wilson.

Contextual Storytelling and Representation in Women's Sports Programming Yields Results

Genius Sports, Snap Inc., and the WNBA came together to dive into fan insights. Understanding the power of fan attention is crucial, which Genius Sports’ VP Advertising and Sales, Molly McCardle highlighted “ads shown during women’s sports, specifically WNBA programming, generate 40% more consumer engagement than your average prime-time TV ad…56% increase from 2024.”

Bonus l The intersection of Sports and Entertainment has Never Been More Inspiring and Influential

The legendary Jon Batiste performed at the Deep Blue x Autodesk "Legends Dinner" at the Women's Sports Yacht Club - an evening that highlighted and celebrated the greatness of female athletes who have led and contributed to the building of the women's sports movement we're experiencing, and Batiste's performance was, well, legendary. 

Looking for more insights and deep dive analysis from Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment? Catch up on Courtside with Laura Correnti to hear Chelsea FC Women's star Niamh Charles’ keys to success on and off the pitch as she gears up for the upcoming UEFA Euros tournament this summer.

⚡️ Signal Strength  

How LOVB’s WAVES Framework Can Transform Women's Sports

League One Volleyball (LOVB) is taking a whole new approach when it comes to building a women’s sports league. We spoke with Stephanie Martin, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, about the league’s WAVES Framework—a transformative business model that builds from the athlete outward to create sustainable value.

What’s the WAVES framework? Find out here.

📰 In the Current  

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

• Women’s Soccer has the potential to be the fifth most popular global sport by 2030 according to a new report from Nielsen Sports and Pepsi Co.  

• Los Angeles joins ‘the movement’ with Untamed Spirits, the city’s first women’s sports bar, open now in Silver Lake. 

• WNBPA President Nneka Ogwumike tells the AP she’s “looking forward to whatever meeting between the WNBPA and the league is to come over the next 25 days.”