By Boitumelo Masihleho
`Sports agent Nicole Lynn has made history again as the first Black woman agent to represent a player in the National Football League (NFL) in the Super Bowl this year. She is representing Jalen Hurts, an American football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. There’s some Black history associated with the 2023 Super Bowl, thanks to the two teams who’ll be playing. For the first time in NFL history, two Black quarterbacks will be playing in hopes of leading their team to victory.
Lynn is a proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and Doctor of Law (J.D.) with honors. In 2015, she joined PlayersRep as the agency’s first female sports agent. In 2017, PlayersRep was acquired by Young Money APAA Sports Agency owned by world-renowned rapper, Lil Wayne. In 2021, Nicole elevated her career and joined the team at Klutch Sports Group as their new President of Football Operations. Lynn currently represents 19 NFL clients and even pro softball players.
Lynn’s incredible business savvy and strong will to succeed has led her to become one of the youngest female sports agents in the industry signing her first client at only 26. In 2019, Lynn became the first Black woman to represent a Top 3 NFL draft pick (and only the second woman in history to solo-represent an NFL first-rounder) when she represented defensive tackle, Quinnen Williams. After following Hurts’ collegiate football career and seeing his NFL draft, Lynn sent him a direct message on Instagram asking for a meeting. Just three years after impressing both him and his father during a meetup, with her storied management career that spans several NCAA players, she began representing him.
According to Zippia, only 7.5% of sports agents are Black, while a whopping 65.1% of them are White. Additionally, only 23.2% of sports agents are women, and of that, only 10.4% are Black (men or women). As Hurts began his professional career—he started his rookie season as the third-string quarterback on the Philadelphia Eagles’ depth chart—he found himself looking around the world of sports and feeling more and more bothered by the way women were treated. He hired women to run his life around football. Choosing Lynn as his agent was just the start. From media relations to marketing to brand client services support, women run things for him across the board.
Nicole Lynn is one of the few Black women in the NFL making history. Last year, The Las Vegas Raiders announced Sandra Douglass Morgan as the team’s newest president, making her the first Black female team president in the National Football League’s history. She is the third female president and third Black president of an NFL team. Also in 2022, Mellody Hobson is set to make history by becoming the first black female owner in NFL history. She’s part of the group headed by Walmart heir Rob Walton to buy the Denver Broncos. The Broncos reportedly sold for $4.65 billion, which would be the highest amount ever paid
