USTA Unveils Billie Jean King National Tennis Center

USTA Holds Ceremony For King Prior To Evening Matches At U.S. Open

The USTA National Tennis Center last night was officially renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in a ceremony prior to the evening session in Arthur Ashe Stadium. During a press conference yesterday morning, when King was asked if the USTA had told her how much money it could have made in a corporate naming-rights deal for the facility, she asked USTA Chief Exec of Professional Tennis Arlen Kantarian if it was $6-10M. Kantarian said that the number was about $6M, likely meaning per year. “I want to thank the USTA for not selling a sponsorship to every single [item],” King said. She also said she hoped the Mets would follow suit and name their new ballpark after Jackie Robinson (Daniel Kaplan, SportsBusiness Journal).

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: USA Network tennis analyst Jim Courier said of naming the venue for King, “This is not about Billie Jean King, the tennis player. This is about Billie Jean King, the pioneer, and that’s why it’s appropriate” (USA Network, 8/28). Former WTA Tour CEO Anne Worcester added, “Billie Jean King’s contributions expand beyond women’s tennis. What Billie Jean accomplished in life raised awareness for what women can do not just in sports, but in life” (Westchester JOURNAL NEWS, 8/29). In L.A., Bill Dwyre: “In renaming the U.S. National Tennis Center in her name, tennis paid proper homage to King as a champion, not only of tennis but of women’s rights as well” (L.A. TIMES, 8/29). In N.Y., George Vecsey writes USTA execs “gave up millions of dollars of potential naming rights in order to honor a woman from the public courts, but in doing so they also raised a note of idealism” (N.Y. TIMES, 8/29). On Long Island, Shaun Powell writes the name “pays the kind of respect that you won’t get from any other major stadium or sports complex in this country. That’s because none salute women and none echo the kind of qualities that Billie Jean and Ashe stood for” (NEWSDAY, 8/29).