In a startlingly welcome decision, the USTA has decided that instead of naming the Grandstand court at the National Tennis Center after Billie Jean King (a move that would have affixed her, Siamese-twin style, to the flank of Louis B. Armstrong stadium - Louis being a hornblower whom she could have little in common apart from a flair for performance), they would let her preside over Armstrong and also over Arthur Ashe (the NTC stadium)by naming the entire joint after her.
That’s right, it will now officially be The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. What a great move, coming just as I was bracing for an any-day-now announcement declaring that the place had been re-named The USTA Motorola Maria Sharapova National Tennis Center, Presented by Sony-Ericsson. And what about all that revenue (the New York Times estimated $4 to $5 million annually in this piece) that will now be lost?
Who cares, USTA bigs Franklin Johnson (Chairman of the Board and President) and Arlen Kantarian (CEO of Professional Tennis) said. That's just money! As Kantarian said:
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Certainly, it's obvious that this is not your typical naming deal. It's also obvious that Billie Jean King is not your typical champion. I think that's what went through our mind immediately. I think in this day and age of corporate naming rights on venues, this remains a clear signal that not everything is for sale. This was not about the money; this was about doing what was right. As Franklin mentioned up top, it almost became a no brainer once he mentioned it to our Board.
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This is an appropriate move, although it does make me wonder again why they didn’t name the entire place for Ashe in the first place. The answer: The USTA saw the potential sale of naming rights on the horizon a few years back, and wanted to keep its options open (I know this was at least discussed, because I was involved in the push to get the stadium named for Arthur, who was a friend). This makes the decision to pass on the money more impressive.
So now all we need to do is change the name of Armstrong to Chris Evert Stadium and slap Jimmy Connors name on the Grandstand and bingo – we’re done.
Almost. While we're at it, let's name Court 22 The Paul Goldstein court, in honor of all game and dogged qualifiers (BTW: does anyone else around here think we should try to get Paul into the TennisWorld tribe and get him to do a little blogging for us? He seems like a good fit).
Anyway, I’ve politely declined the Billie Jean Kool-Aid on as many occasions as I’ve quaffed it. And I still think it pompous and weirdly insensitive to the suffering and misery that go on every day in this world when Billie either describes herself, or is described by others, as a “human rights activist.” I guess the bar is set at different heights for everyone on that.
But there’s no doubt about this: Billie Jean is an iconic and symbolic tennis player, and the public park in which the USTA hosts the national championships is an iconic as well as symbolic facility. It’s a great fit and a well-earned honor for Ms. King.
Best line of the conference call held today: Billie Jean, reflecting on the fact that she and Arthur Ashe danced the first dance as newly crowned Wimbledon champs at the Wimbledon ball in 1975: We both had Afros, his was real, mine was just a perm.
The USTA will have an official naming ceremony on Opening Day of this year’s tournament. I’ll have more thoughts on what strange bedfellows BJK and the USTA were, for so many years, after that official event.
Congrats, Billie