New York: When Serena Williams beat Caroline Wozniacki in the US Open tournament final last weekend, she earned the same prize money as male counterpart Marin Cilic did for his win over Kei Nishikori 24 hours later.
Since 2007, when Wimbledon and the French Open joined the other Grand Slam tournaments in giving equal prize money to men and women, tennis has broken down the gender pay gap.
Stacey Allaster, head of the Women’s Tennis Association, has played a big role in that. Allaster spoke about being a female executive in the sports industry and the legacy of Billie Jean King. Excerpts:
Q: Why has women’s tennis succeeded at equal pay?
A: The WTA was founded on the principles of equality and the empowerment of women through the great Billie Jean King. It was her vision that a women’s-only tour would be commercially successful and that any girl in the world could play professional tennis.
That was a critical time, 1970 to 1973. King was forming the WTA. She was winning Grand Slams. She was getting the USTA [United States Tennis Association] to pay equal prize money — in 1973. And, of course, she beat Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes match. When you hear it from Billie, the weight of the world was on her shoulders. It wasn’t about winning a tennis match. It was about showing that women were confident, strong and equal.
Q: You helped secure equal prize money at Wimbledon and Roland Garros. Tell me about that.
A: I was the president of the WTA at the time. Larry Scott was chairman and CEO. But it took decades of effort from great champions like Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova and other advocates.
We were at 93 per cent of pay in 2006. We launched a public opinion campaign in France and Britain. We presented the data that showed our sponsorship revenues were very strong. We had a strong political campaign in business leaders like Richard Branson. Tessa Jowell, the minister of sport in Britain, was able to get Tony Blair on the House of Commons floor to say that Wimbledon should pay equal prize money.
Our ace was Venus Williams. On the eve of the Wimbledon finals in 2007, Larry said to Venus, “I’d like you to talk to the All England committee about equal prize money. I’m just a suit.” Venus, with her gift of diplomacy, was able to bring it over the line.
Q: Tell me about your plans for growing women’s tennis.
A: Where we think we can play and win is that our athletes are incredibly inspiring on and off the court. We are fundamentally in the entertainment business.
Research tells us that our strategy needs to improve our connection with fans. We need more live content. We have over 2,000 matches played in the WTA, but we’re probably only producing about 700 for television or digital platforms. We’re showing our fans about a third of our total product.
Q: What is the biggest challenge of being a female executive in the sports world?
A: I’m the only woman in the world running a global professional sport. Even in our sport — the sport of equality — right now, the International Tennis Federation does not have one woman on its board.
— Washington Post
