Former WNBA star and current collegiate coach Sydney Carter believes the glass ceiling is being shattered in women's sports.

Across the board at a collegiate level, athletes are now able to benefit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL). In the case of NCAA v. Alston, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in June 2021 that the NCAA's restrictions on education-related benefits for students were no longer acceptable.

Since then, we have seen many athletes from both women’s and men's sports leverage NIL to make significant profits. This includes Louisiana State University basketball player Flau'jae Johnson, who has reportedly banked millions through NIL deals, and her former teammate-turned-WNBA player Angel Reese.

In this exclusive interview, Coach Carter acknowledged the merits of the present age and reflected on how advantageous it could have been during her era.

“So, I think NIL is amazing because for the longest, when I was an athlete, I wanted to feel like, ‘Okay, well, everybody's making money off of us... like, I'm doing the work. I want to get paid.’ So, I think that it's big,” she commented to REVOLT on the red carpet for the 2024 ESPY Awards.

She added, “I wish that there was more structure in it because as a college coach, you see the difficulties that it causes in recruiting and all those other things, but for the athletes, it's amazing. And for us coaches, we just have to learn to adjust and figure it out.”

Carter also shared her thoughts on the increase of support seen in women’s basketball. Some may credit that to Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese; however, the WNBA has always boasted marketable talent, including former players like Maya Moore and Candace Parker, and current stars such as A’ja Wilson, who is the all-time leading scorer for the Las Vegas Aces.

In fact, the Las Vegas Aces also benefited from a $100,000 annual sponsorship that was allocated to each player by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority in May 2023, ESPN reports.

Furthermore, women's sports, as a whole, are undergoing a significant transformation, with revenues expected to surpass $1 billion in 2024, marking a 300 percent increase compared to 2021, CNBC notes.

“I think you're seeing what happens when you invest in women and invest in women's sports,” Carter explained. “The product has always been good. The athletes have always been marketable. We've always come in with the fits, the hair, the lash. Like, we've always done that. And so, I think people are just now starting to catch on. I'm fine with that as long as they catch on at some point, which they have. So, it's good. It's good for women. And the glass ceiling has been shattered.”