The Legacy of Billie Jean King’s Leadership in Women’s Sports Organizations

The Legacy of Billie Jean King’s Leadership in Women’s Sports Organizations

Billie Jean King is widely recognized as one of the most transformative figures in the history of sports. While her 39 Grand Slam titles and her iconic 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” victory over Bobby Riggs cemented her place in tennis lore, it is her work off the court that has arguably had a greater and more lasting impact. King did not just compete; she built the infrastructure for women’s professional sports. Through her founding of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Women’s Sports Foundation, and her relentless advocacy for Title IX enforcement and equal pay, she reshaped the organizational landscape for female athletes. Her leadership created a blueprint for athlete-driven governance, economic equity, and institutional change that continues to guide sports organizations today.

Early Advocacy and the Founding of the Women’s Tennis Association

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, women’s professional tennis existed in the shadow of the men’s game. Tournament prize money was grossly unequal—often by a factor of 10 or more—and female players had little say in scheduling or sponsorship decisions. Billie Jean King, then already a top-ranked player, recognized that without a unified organization, women would remain at the mercy of governing bodies dominated by men. In 1970, she and eight other players—the “Original 9”—signed $1 contracts with World Tennis magazine publisher Gladys Heldman to form their own tour, the Virginia Slims Circuit. This bold move broke away from the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association and laid the groundwork for what would become the WTA.

On June 21, 1973, on the eve of Wimbledon, King convened a meeting of 63 women players in the London Gunnersbury Park Hotel. There, she proposed the formation of a single, unified tour for women’s professional tennis. The Women’s Tennis Association was born, with King serving as its first president. The WTA’s primary goals were to secure equitable prize money, create a structured ranking system, and give players collective bargaining power. King later recalled that the hardest part was convincing players that they could run their own affairs. By centralizing governance, the WTA enabled women to negotiate television contracts, sponsorships, and tournament fees as a group, fundamentally altering the economics of women’s tennis.

The organization’s early achievements were remarkable. By 1975, the WTA had secured a sponsorship deal with Colgate that guaranteed $1 million in prize money—a tenfold increase from the Virginia Slims Circuit’s first year. King’s leadership was instrumental in pushing for the U.S. Open to become the first Grand Slam tournament to offer equal prize money to men and women in 1973. Today, the WTA operates as a global organization representing over 1,600 players from 80 countries, with total prize money exceeding $200 million annually. King’s vision of a player-led organization remains embedded in the WTA’s structure: a board composed largely of current and former players ensures that athletes’ voices continue to shape the tour’s direction.

Building the Women’s Sports Foundation: A Model for Advocacy

Recognizing that institutional change required more than just a tennis tour, King co-founded the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) in 1974. Alongside athletes like Donna de Varona, Billie Jean King sought to create an organization that would advocate for all women in sports—from grassroots participants to elite professionals. The WSF’s mission was threefold: to promote participation by girls and women in sports, to secure equal funding and facilities, and to provide educational resources and grants. King leveraged her fame to attract corporate partners and government attention, but she also insisted on a grassroots approach. The WSF established chapters in every U.S. state and developed programs that focused on underserved communities.

The foundation’s impact on policy has been substantial. In the 1970s and 1980s, the WSF became a leading voice in defending Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding. King and the WSF helped to fight off legal challenges from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and other organizations that argued against equal funding for women’s athletics. The WSF’s research and advocacy were critical in the 1990s when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Title IX’s application to athletic programs. Today, the Women’s Sports Foundation awards over $1 million annually in grants and scholarships and runs the “GoGirlGo!” program to encourage physical activity among girls ages 8–18.

One of the foundation’s lesser-known but vital contributions is its role in career development for women in sports leadership. The WSF’s “Lena’s Legacy” program, named after pioneering sportswriter Lena Williams, provides mentorship and networking opportunities for women pursuing careers in sports media, management, and coaching. This reflects King’s belief that representation matters—not just on the playing field, but in the boardrooms and broadcast booths where decisions are made. The WSF has also published landmark studies on the state of women’s coaching, showing that fewer than 30% of NCAA women’s teams are led by women head coaches, a decline from over 90% before Title IX. These findings have sparked initiatives to address the pipeline problem, including grant programs that fund professional development for female assistant coaches.

Title IX Enforcement and Policy Leadership

Billie Jean King’s leadership extended well beyond organizational work into direct policy advocacy. She understood that sustainable change required legal and regulatory frameworks. In the late 1970s, King testified before the U.S. Senate on behalf of Title IX, arguing that equal opportunity in sports was not just a matter of fairness but of public health and social progress. Her testimony helped to counter arguments that Title IX would harm men’s sports—a claim that has persisted for decades but has been repeatedly debunked.

King served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. In that capacity, she influenced federal guidelines for girls’ physical education and sports participation. She also worked with the Women’s Sports Foundation to produce the “Rosie Report” (named after Rosie the Riveter), a comprehensive analysis of the status of women in sports that highlighted the persistent funding gaps between male and female athletes at the collegiate level. The report’s findings were used by advocacy groups and lawmakers to push for stronger enforcement of Title IX regulations.

In recent years, King has continued to weigh in on policy issues. She was an early voice in calling for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to fully integrate women’s events and ensure equal medal opportunities. Her advocacy contributed to the IOC’s decision to add women’s boxing to the 2012 London Olympics and to achieve nearly 50% female participation at the 2020 Tokyo Games. King has also been vocal about transgender inclusion in sports, arguing that participation should be based on fairness and inclusivity—a nuanced position that reflects her lifelong commitment to expanding opportunities for all athletes.

The Battle of the Sexes as a Catalyst for Organizational Change

The 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match between King and Bobby Riggs is often remembered as a spectacle, but for King it was a strategic part of a broader organizational campaign. The match, watched by an estimated 90 million people worldwide, generated enormous media attention and public conversation about women’s athletic abilities. King used the platform to directly address the structural barriers facing women in sports. During interviews before and after the match, she repeatedly called for equal prize money, better training facilities, and more media coverage of women’s sports.

The event’s commercial success—it was the most-watched tennis match in history at the time—demonstrated to sponsors and television networks that women’s sports could attract massive audiences. This helped King in her negotiations with tournament directors and corporate partners. The momentum from the match accelerated the WTA’s efforts to secure a major television rights deal with NBC in 1974. King later described the match as “a catalyst, not a victory,” meaning that its real value was in opening doors for organizational change rather than in any symbolic achievement.

The match also inspired a generation of female leaders. Many of the women who later became executives in sports organizations, including former WTA CEO Anne Worcester and International Tennis Federation President Katrina Adams, have cited King’s performance and subsequent advocacy as pivotal in their own career choices. The 2017 film “Battle of the Sexes” reignited public interest in these issues, and King used the film’s release to launch a new initiative with the Women’s Sports Foundation called “The Battle for Equality,” which raises funds for programs that support girls in underserved communities.

Leadership Style: Athlete-Centric and Collaborative

Billie Jean King’s approach to running organizations was notably different from the top-down model common in sports governance. She believed that athletes themselves should have a seat at the table, a principle that guided the WTA’s player-board structure. At the WTA, she insisted that players vote on major decisions—including the selection of the tour’s executive director and the approval of tournament contracts. This model of participatory governance was rare at the time and remains a distinctive feature of the WTA compared to other professional sports leagues.

King also prioritized mentorship and collaboration. She personally recruited sponsors for the Virginia Slims tour, often cold-calling CEOs and convincing them to invest in women’s tennis. She mentored younger players like Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, teaching them not just tennis skills but how to handle media, manage finances, and advocate for their own interests. Navratilova has said that King “taught us that we could be more than athletes—we could be businesspeople and activists too.” This culture of mentorship has been formalized through the WTA’s “Player Mentorship Program,” which pairs veteran players with rookies to help them navigate the tour.

Despite her accomplishments, King has acknowledged failures and setbacks. The World TeamTennis (WTT) league, which she co-founded in 1973, struggled for decades with financial instability before eventually finding a sustainable niche. King has also faced criticism for the WTA’s early focus on wealthy countries, with some observers arguing that the organization could have done more to develop tennis in Africa and Asia. In response, the WTA launched a “Global Development Fund” in 2019 that provides coaching and equipment grants to emerging tennis nations. King’s willingness to adapt and learn from mistakes has been a hallmark of her leadership.

Contemporary Legacy: The King Effect in Modern Sports Organizations

The organizational frameworks that Billie Jean King helped build continue to influence modern sports. The WTA serves as a model for other women’s professional leagues, such as the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). King has consulted with both leagues on issues of player compensation, collective bargaining, and marketing. Her advice to the NWSL during its formation in 2012 helped the league avoid some of the missteps that plagued earlier women’s sports ventures, particularly around player contracts and media rights.

In 2020, the WTA and the Women’s Sports Foundation joined forces with the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative (BJKLI), a social impact organization founded by King in 2014. The BJKLI focuses on diversity and inclusion across all sectors, not just sports. Through this initiative, King has worked with corporations like Salesforce and Deloitte to implement inclusive hiring practices and leadership development programs. The initiative’s “Equality Map” tool helps organizations assess their own performance on gender and racial equity metrics. This cross-sector approach shows how the principles King developed in sports can be applied more broadly.

King’s personal archives, donated to the National Museum of American History in 2021, provide a rich resource for scholars studying the history of women’s sports organizations. The collection includes correspondence with players, sponsors, and politicians, as well as organizational memos and meeting minutes from the early WTA years. Researchers have already used these materials to analyze how the WTA’s governance structure evolved in response to economic pressures. Future studies may shed light on how King’s leadership style adapted as the organization grew from a small rebel group into a global entity.

Challenges and Critiques: A Balanced View

No legacy is without complexity, and King’s career is no exception. Critics have pointed out that the WTA’s early focus on elite tennis sometimes sidelined the needs of lower-ranked players. Even today, the top 100 players earn the vast majority of prize money, while players ranked outside the top 200 often struggle to break even on travel costs. King has acknowledged this issue and has supported the WTA’s recent efforts to increase prize money for early-round losers and to create a minimum earnings guarantee for the top 350 players.

King has also been criticized for her close relationships with sponsors that some activists argue perpetuated harmful beauty standards. The Virginia Slims sponsorship, which used the slogan “You’ve come a long way, baby,” was a tobacco brand, and King has faced questions about promoting a product linked to health risks. She has defended the decision as necessary to get the tour off the ground, noting that at the time there were few corporate sponsors willing to back women’s sports. In recent years, the WTA has moved away from tobacco sponsorships, and King has publicly supported anti-smoking campaigns.

Another area of ongoing debate is race and inclusion in the WTA. While the tour has been a global leader in diversity—with players from Asia, Africa, and the Americas—leadership positions have largely been held by white women. King has promoted diversity on the WTA board, but some critics argue that the pace of change has been slow. The BJKLI has made racial equity a core pillar, and King has explicitly linked her own struggles with sex discrimination to the fight against racial injustice. She marched with Black Lives Matter activists in 2020 and has called on sports organizations to hire more people of color in executive roles.

The Enduring Importance of Organized Advocacy

Billie Jean King’s leadership reminds us that individual talent, however extraordinary, is not enough to reshape an industry. Real change requires organizations—structures that outlast any single person and create systems of accountability. The WTA, the Women’s Sports Foundation, and the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative are the institutional manifestations of King’s vision. They continue to operate long after King’s playing days, adapting to new challenges while staying true to her core principles of equity, inclusion, and athlete empowerment.

For current and future leaders in women’s sports, the lesson is clear: build the organization first, and the victories will follow. King’s approach was never about short-term wins; it was about creating durable institutions that could fight for women’s rights for decades. As the landscape of women’s sports continues to evolve—with rising media rights deals, increased investment, and growing cultural acceptance—the organizational blueprints King helped create will remain essential guides. Her legacy is not just in the trophies or the records, but in the enduring systems of support and advocacy that she built.

Resources for Further Learning

For those interested in diving deeper into Billie Jean King’s organizational work, several resources are highly recommended. The WTA’s official history page offers a detailed timeline of the association’s founding and growth. The Women’s Sports Foundation publishes annual reports and research studies on participation trends, funding gaps, and policy developments. The Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative website provides toolkits and case studies on implementing equity practices in various organizational settings. Additionally, King’s autobiography All In: An Autobiography (2021) contains extensive reflections on her leadership philosophy and the challenges she faced in building sports organizations.