Cultivate Sport Founder & Sports Agent Kelly Evans takes us behind the scenes of women’s sport ahead of the hotly anticipated Women’s Rugby World Cup, and tells us what it’s like to be a women’s sports agent.
Standing amongst the sold out crowd of 42,000 in Eden Park, as the Black Ferns claimed Rugby World Cup victory on home soil back in 2022, everyone around me cheered and celebrated their momentous win. I stood quietly with tears in my eyes. Having represented female players for well over a decade, I’d seen first hand what they’d been up against to be relishing this special, career defining moment.
For many players on that Black Ferns team, (and the countless Black Ferns before them) they’d spent most of their careers playing in front of no more than a few thousand. They’d had to endure constantly being told that women’s rugby isn’t a quality sport product, that no one watches and no one cares.
Now here they were, playing in front of a packed out Eden Park. The tournament was a resounding success – over 1.5 million Kiwis tuned in to their TV’s, while more than 150,000 tickets were sold. What made it even more special for the players was the opportunity to play in for a largely Kiwi audience, in front of whānau and friends; a rarity in the careers of a New Zealand women’s team – fifteens or sevens.
Bring on the Rugby World Cup 2025!
Now, three years on from that iconic final, England’s hosting the 2025 Rugby World Cup, with the tournament to be run from August 22nd to September 27th. Women’s rugby, both here and globally has, thankfully, further evolved, with a whole new generation of fans in love with the sport and the players. Increased visibility of not only the women’s game, but teams and individual players and their stories has helped to spur this on.
Pathways and competitions have developed, investment and resourcing is increasing, as is broadcast coverage and accessibility to the game, as well as marketing strategies, commercial partnerships and activations.
This growing excitement for the women’s game will see the 2025 Rugby World Cup become the biggest one yet. Hosted across eight stadiums throughout England, the early first round of tickets sold out in just hours. To date 330,000 tickets have been sold, and the Final, hosted at Twickenham with a capacity of 82,000, is almost sold out. All before the tournament has commenced.
What is it like being a sports agent for female athletes – as a woman myself!
And while our athletes are busy preparing, behind the scenes there’s an ecosystem to enable them to do what they do, day in and day out. As a sports agent I play a small role in that ecosystem, one that’s often unseen and misunderstood.
In 2012, after working in athlete support and identifying a gap in the market due a disproportionate number of male to female players professionally represented and with off field commercial opportunities; I founded Cultivate Sport, a boutique sports agency committed to building meaningful careers for high performance athletes, on and off the field, born out of a clear need to advocate for and represent under-served female and Olympic athletes in a male-dominated industry.
From day one, we kept our client list intentionally small, proudly helping to drive systemic change by negotiating firsts including:
- the first female rugby playing contract
- the highest-paid New Zealand female player,
- the longest female playing contract (globally)
- and the first global ambassador deal.
Built on integrity, professionalism, and advocacy, the agency quickly established a leadership role in women’s sport, especially rugby, at a time when few saw its commercial potential.
Thirteen years on, Cultivate Sport remains deliberately small and deeply personal, offering bespoke, values-driven support to every client. Over this time I’ve seen significant growth in playing opportunities both offshore (Japan, France, England & the US), across different codes (NRLW) and in new innovative leagues (R-360, Indian Premier League & Project 7’s) which are creating new opportunities for female players.
The momentum is with women’s sport – but we’re not there yet
As the playing opportunities have evolved, so too has the global market for women’s sport which is growing substantially, along with its prominence and commercial rise. Brands are increasingly investing in female focused partnerships and advertising, with innovative campaigns and activations more common – like Sephora’s product integration, parachuting their products into the crowd at Valkyries WNBA match; and Togethxr’s No one watches women’s sport Tshirt” having surpassed US$6 million in sales and becoming a global movement.
Investing in women’s sport is not a charity, or for social good. It just makes good business sense.
Players have their own personal brands and social following, while media interest and reporting has increased – England Red Roses’ team were even featured in Vogue! The breadth of commercial opportunities that now exist, have also shifted beyond just a few players.
Fans now have access to a wider range of merchandise , including for the first time, a Men’s cut Black Ferns supporter jersey for all our male allies.
Fans of the women’s game are growing too – it is no longer a small niche group or just female fans, but a movement which demonstrates the momentum shift in women’s rugby. The fans know players by name, watch them play, and follow them on socials.
But while we are heading in the right direction, we’re not there yet. Challenges in women’s sport continue with pay inequity and disparity of resourcing between nations; with World Ranked #2, Canada needs to fundraise to boost their RWC campaign.
Despite these challenges I’m keen to celebrate how far we’ve come in the past decade. Bring on RWC 2025 – I can’t wait to witness the action and excitement on the ground, and be immersed in a tournament that will bring so much joy and excitement to its fandom. We’re enjoying the next pivotal period for Women’s Rugby, the growth and opportunities for its players and those that work in rugby are accelerating. Now it’s up to us as fans to continue to show up, and support the players and the game that we love.