First Female NFL Coach Dr. Jen Welter Predicts Tom Brady ‘Will Do More’ in Women’s Sports (Exclusive)

"Really smart people know that women's ROI is going to be a lot higher in the long," says Welter, who was the first woman to coach in the NFL

In March, Tom Brady said it was "an honor" to acquire a partial stake in the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, and Dr. Jen Welter, the first woman to coach in the NFL, predicts more investments in the retired athlete's future.

Welter became the league's first woman to coach in 2015 as a coaching intern under Bruce Arians for the Arizona Cardinals. Currently, she's on the coaching staff for the Vegas Vipers of the XFL.

"I think Tom Brady is doing a really good job, first of all, extending his presence in sports by making really smart investments. Really smart people know that women's ROI [Return on Investment] is going to be a lot higher in the long run," Welter tells PEOPLE.

She continues, "Because one of the things that people don't realize is when you start at the top, you have to stay at the top. In men's sports, the [Washington] Commanders sold for, what, $6 billion? Anything that you do that isn't worth the billions, you're not even in the club."

Welter thinks Brady's investment into the women's basketball team (who also happen to be the WNBA's reigning champions) makes the former NFL star ahead of the curve.

"We are just now starting to see the stride and the upside potential of women's sports," she says.

Related: Tom Brady Says Retirement Is a ‘Chance to Really Sit Back and Watch and Learn a Different Career’

Another factor Welter thinks pushed Brady to purchase stake in the team? "He has a daughter," says Welter.

She explains, "If we could all live in empathy, we would have a much better world. But, when you start to look at the world through the lens of someone who means everything to you, everything changes. There are very few girl dads who don't look at the world and want the best for their daughters, just like they do their sons.

"Cheers to Tom Brady. I love the investment, and I think he'll do more of it."

Welter is getting involved in women's sports through another method, a partnership with Barbie, as Mattel announces its' new Women in Sports Barbie Collection, which features general manager, coach, referee and sports reporter Barbies.

Welter tells PEOPLE, "For me personally, I grew up loving football and it was the first place in the world that somebody told me girls can't do that."

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She continues, "I never was able to see myself doing a lot of the things that have now been done for girls and women in, not only as a player, but as a coach or as a referee — or even reporting back then was very male-dominated."

Welter poses an important question about pockets of football culture. "Football being America's game, the game that took over Sundays and found its way into Thanksgivings and all of those things, is this larger than life game where guys look like superheroes. I know for me and a lot of the women who played, we also heard very distinctly that football was the final frontier for women in sports. I know for me, I took that as a challenge. If this is America's game, how can it be America's game if women aren't allowed to play?"

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