Deloitte partners with Billie Jean King to grow women's sports leadership

Deloitte and tennis legend Billie Jean King have joined forces to foster the growth of women's sports and develop future leaders. This collaboration comes as global revenue in women's sports is projected to reach $3 billion by 2026, driven by increased media coverage, which has climbed to 15% of all sports coverage from roughly 3% to 5.5% in just a few years. However, despite this progress, the infrastructure for women's sports remains underdeveloped, leaving significant leadership potential untapped.

"Sport is one of the most powerful leadership accelerators," said Lara Abrash, chair of Deloitte US. "The skills built in competition are the same ones that make exceptional leaders. At the very moment women's sports are breaking records, too much of that potential is being left on the field."

According to research by the Women's Sports Foundation, girls drop out of sports at nearly twice the rate of boys, with close to half of them stepping away during adolescence. Furthermore, while 90% of women's teams were coached by women in 1972, only about 41% are coached by women today. Each drop-out can narrow the pipeline of women who go on to lead.

"Deloitte brings the leadership development and business-building capabilities this moment needs," King said. "My generation's job is to support those who follow in our footsteps, and I'm excited to be building what comes next in women's sports with them."

The partnership between Deloitte and King will focus on three key areas: growing strong leaders through sport, powering the business of tomorrow, and connecting key players across the marketplace. Initiatives will include helping athletes translate their strengths into business leadership, developing more qualified coaches, and transforming the infrastructures that shape the business of tomorrow. Additionally, Deloitte and King plan to turn fragmented sports science into performance insights for female athletes, a field where only about 6% of research has focused.

Deloitte is no stranger to this space, having authored some of the industry's most-cited research on women's sports, including "Game Changers: Unlocking the potential of women's sports" and "Beyond the billion-dollar barrier: Charting the next phase of growth." The organization maintains a deep bench of sports-related relationships and sponsorships, including roles with U.S. Soccer, the WNBA, and the U.S. Open Tennis Championships.

"Ilana Kloss, CEO of Billie Jean King Enterprises, stated, 'Billie Jean has always said you have to see it to be it. Our work with Deloitte is about building what sits behind that belief and carrying the business of women's sports into its next era.'"

King and Abrash will appear together across various initiatives, from new research and gathering athletes' perspectives to youth leadership programming and exploring innovative opportunities across the women's sports ecosystem. The collaboration aims to build alongside others who share the goal of advancing women's sports.

"Through this partnership, we intend to help keep the pipeline of future leaders full—from the youth level all the way to the boardroom," Abrash added.