Not Just Calhanoglu – Two Other Inter Milan Stars Rumoured For Summer Exits
Midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu is not the only Inter Milan player for whom the transfer rumours are swirling this summer.
Today's print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInter1908, name Yann Bisseck and Aleksandar Stankovic as other potential exits.
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Inter Milan are reportedly waiting to see whether a big offer comes in for midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu.
The Turkish international's uncertain situation is certainly one of the big themes of the summer transfer window for the Nerazzurri. Reportedly. Galatasaray are keen on his signature.
Not Just Calhanoglu – Bisseck & Stankovic Also Linked With Inter Exits
MILAN, ITALY – APRIL 02: Yann Aurel Bisseck of FC Internazionale gets past Tammy Abraham of AC Milan during the Coppa Italia Semi Final match between AC Milan and FC Internazionale at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on April 02, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by)
However, as the Gazzetta dello Sport, Calhanoglu is not the only Inter player who could leave this summer.
Defender Yann Bisseck remains on the radar of several Premier League clubs. And the temptation is certainly there fore the Nerazzurri to cash in on the German after paying just €7 million to sign him.
Meanwhile, the Gazzetta note, Inter could also cash in on young midfielder Aleksandar Stankovic this summer.
The young Serb would reportedly command a fee of around €10 million.
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Forbes
a minute ago
- Forbes
The Most Valuable Sports Agencies 2025
E ach of the 10 times that Forbes has ranked the most valuable sports agencies—starting in 2013 and most recently in 2022—CAA has come out on top. But if the outcome is beginning to feel a bit preordained, what it means to be North America's largest agency continues to grow—and grow, and grow. CAA once again takes the No. 1 spot in the ranking on the basis of its $1.14 billion in maximum commissions, up 18% from three years ago. The Los Angeles-based agency now has more than 3,000 clients for talent representation and oversees an estimated $15.9 billion in team-sport playing contracts and $4.59 billion in non-playing contracts, including endorsements as well as its coaching and sports media groups. 'The sports business has grown so much just in the past three or four years that people want to be in the game,' says Howie Nuchow, co-head of CAA Sports, 'and that creates opportunities for smart strategic business decisions.' Despite CAA's continued expansion, its rivals have gained some ground. Wasserman and Excel Sports Management—Nos. 2 and 3 across the last five editions of the agency ranking, dating to 2018—have boosted their estimated maximum commissions 31% and 57%, respectively, over the last three years, to $956 million and $783 million. Octagon (No. 4 this year with $463 million in maximum commissions) and Klutch Sports Group (No. 5, $351 million) have experienced even more robust growth—119% and 252%. Combined, the top 10 North American sports agencies are generating up to $4.61 billion in commissions on more than $72 billion in active contracts under management, with those figures representing rises of 22% and 25% from $3.79 billion and $57.8 billion three years ago. Years of consolidation preceded that 2022 ranking, and the mega-agencies' shopping sprees haven't let up in the years since. For instance, Roc Nation Sports and Klutch parent UTA enhanced their global soccer rosters with deals for Brazil's TFM and Germany's ROOF, respectively. You First, which ranked 10th on Forbes' 2022 agency list, was itself acquired by Hollywood talent agency Gersh last year (and narrowly missed the 2025 agency top 10). CAA, meanwhile, has continued its push beyond talent representation—sports, entertainment or otherwise—by absorbing consulting firm Portas and Hanold Associates, which leads searches for human resources executives. Jeff Schwartz, CEO of Excel, which entered on-field NFL representation for the first time with its 2023 purchase of REP 1 Football, says his agency has meetings 'probably monthly' to discuss its growth priorities and potential acquisition targets. But while competition at the top remains fierce—just last week, leading NFL agency Athletes First announced that it had pried away Tory Dandy, CAA's co-head of football, to become an equity partner—'it's not just grow to grow,' says Jason Ranne, Wasserman's president of global talent representation. Agencies are focused on exploiting specific financial opportunities and expanding client services rather than merely keeping up with the Joneses. 'We don't actually view it as some unusual pace,' Ranne adds of Wasserman, which has either acquired or entered into strategic partnerships with 10 smaller agencies over the last two years, bolstering its hockey group in April with a deal for KO Sports. 'It's just kind of par for the course for us for the last 10 years.' One other major factor driving the M&A activity has been an influx of institutional investors. At least seven of this year's top 10 agencies have been backed by private equity or venture capital money in recent years, with Excel currently seeking a new investor as Shamrock Capital considers selling the minority stake it acquired in the firm in 2020. Schwartz, who in addition to his position overseeing Excel comes in at No. 2 in Forbes' 2025 ranking of sports agents, says he expects the fundraise to close by the end of the year. 'It's no different than healthcare and the other places where private equity shows up,' Ranne says. 'It does tend to push for M&A activities—that's kind of their bread and butter.' CAA, which had already been controlled by private equity firm TPG, offered a proof of concept in 2023 when it sold a majority stake in the agency to François-Henri Pinault and his billionaire family's investment company, Groupe Artémis. The deal reportedly valued the entirety of CAA—including its entertainment business, which is now smaller than the sports side—at roughly $7 billion, a big step up from TPG's $1.1 billion purchase in 2014. The most notable change in this year's agency ranking, however, runs against the consolidation trend. WME Sports, which was No. 3 on the 2022 list, went private in a transaction that closed in March and has been forced to divest its football and basketball divisions to avoid violating NFL and NBA conflict-of-interest rules, which do not allow team owners to simultaneously hold a representation business in the sport. (Egon Durban, the billionaire co-CEO of Silver Lake, which led the WME deal, has a stake in the Las Vegas Raiders, and tech billionaire Michael Dell, whose family office invested in the new WME, owns a piece of the San Antonio Spurs.) Sports will remain a focus for WME, which still has a major presence in tennis, golf, action sports and media, although it fell just outside Forbes' 2025 agency ranking. WME's former football division, now rebranded as WIN Sports Group, also missed the cut despite Joel Segal landing at No. 14 on Forbes' agent list. But its newly independent basketball business—using the name WME Basketball, at least temporarily—came in at No. 10 among North American sports agencies, with Bill Duffy at No. 4 on the top agents list. Among the other changes to the talent representation landscape since Forbes' last ranking in 2022, virtually all of the top 10 agencies have significantly expanded their college NIL practices—and are seeing an actual financial return, beyond the benefits of cultivating a talent pipeline. 'I would say this year it made the move to justifying the effort,' CAA's Nuchow says. 'This is now a whole new budget line item that you hadn't had before that is millions of dollars.' Women's sports are also a new, or renewed, area of focus for much of the industry, even though playing contracts for female athletes remain modest. And while agencies wait for the millions to come for some of those clients, they are benefiting from the rising tide in other ways. 'We're working on the areas where the growth is happening, meaning franchise values,' Nuchow says, noting that CAA advises on media rights and stadium construction. Beyond talent representation, agencies have been building out their divisions that work with brands, teams and leagues—areas that are excluded from the Forbes ranking but can have superior profit margins. Still, even as sports agencies branch out in new directions—and talent representation becomes a smaller piece of total revenue—they aren't planning to get out of the business that got them here. 'Talent is in our DNA at Excel, and talent opens the door for so many of these other areas,' Schwartz says. 'Could revenues be greater in some other areas? Maybe—but I still think there's so much to do globally on the talent side that we're focused on.' Most Valuable Sports Agencies 2025 #1. CAA 📍 Los Angeles Key Sports: Football, Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, Hockey Key Clients: Josh Allen, Devin Booker, Sidney Crosby, Jack Grealish, Shohei Ohtani Estimated Clients: 3,070 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $15.9 billion Estimated Non-Playing Contracts Under Management: $4.59 billion Maximum Commissions: $1.143 billion Tom Wilson/#2. Wasserman 📍 Los Angeles Key Sports: Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Hockey, Football, Golf, Olympic Sports, Rugby, Action Sports Key Clients: Maxx Crosby, Katie Ledecky, Connor McDavid, Evan Mobley, Zack Wheeler Estimated Clients: 4,360 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $9.52 billion Estimated Non-Playing Contracts Under Management: $3.07 billion Maximum Commissions: $956 million#3. Excel Sports Management 📍 New York City Key Sports: Basketball, Football, Baseball, Golf Key Clients: Caitlin Clark, Jared Goff, Nikola Jokic, Cal Raleigh, Tiger Woods Estimated Clients: 750 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $6.56 billion Estimated Non-Playing Contracts Under Management: $3.5 billion Maximum Commissions: $783 million #4. Octagon 📍 McLean, Virginia Key Sports: Hockey, Baseball, Basketball, Football, Golf, Tennis, Soccer, Olympic Sports Key Clients: Simone Biles, Stephen Curry, Leon Draisaitl, Trinity Rodman, Bobby Witt Jr. Estimated Clients: 900 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $3.55 billion Estimated Non-Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.64 billion Maximum Commissions: $463 million#5. Klutch Sports Group/UTA 📍 Los Angeles Key Sports: Basketball, Football, Baseball, Soccer Key Clients: Rafael Devers, Kai Havertz, Jalen Hurts, LeBron James, A'ja Wilson Estimated Clients: 680 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $6.27 billion Estimated Non-Playing Contracts Under Management: $1 billion Maximum Commissions: $351 million #6. Boras Corporation 📍 Newport Beach, California Key Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Pete Alonso, Carlos Correa, Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, Juan Soto Estimated Clients: 110 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $4.89 billion Estimated Non-Playing Contracts Under Management: $80 million Maximum Commissions: $260 million #7. Roc Nation Sports 📍 New York City Key Sports: Football, Soccer, Basketball, Baseball Key Clients: CJ Abrams, LaMelo Ball, Skylar Diggins, Kyler Murray, Vinicius Jr. Estimated Clients: 260 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $2.14 billion Estimated Non-Playing Contracts Under Management: $510 million Maximum Commissions: $218 million #8. Athletes First 📍 Laguna Hills, California Key Sport: Football Key Clients: Justin Herbert, Micah Parsons, Dak Prescott, Jalen Ramsey, Tua Tagovailoa Estimated Clients: 220 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $5.68 billion Estimated Non-Playing Contracts Under Management: $400 million Maximum Commissions: $197 million#9. GSE Worldwide 📍 New York City Key Sports: Golf, Tennis, Football Key Clients: Chase Brown, Bryson DeChambeau, Joaquin Niemann, Tommy Paul, Jessica Pegula Estimated Clients: 290 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $210 million Estimated Non-Playing Contracts Under Management: $580 million Maximum Commissions: $122 million#10. WME Basketball 📍 Beverly Hills, California Key Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren, Sabrina Ionescu, Jalen Williams Estimated Clients: 270 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.8 billion Estimated Non-Playing Contracts Under Management: $400 million Maximum Commissions: $120 millionMethodology Forbes' 2025 list of the most valuable sports agencies ranks firms based in North America according to an estimate of the maximum commissions they can generate from the contracts they manage. Agencies that do the bulk of their business in Europe or Asia—such as TEAM8, which is headquartered in Ohio but has the vast majority of its contracts under management attached to Roger Federer—are excluded. However, for any agency that is included in the ranking, the contract and client estimates do include overseas divisions, such as CAA's Stellar soccer group. Estimates for Klutch Sports Group include contracts negotiated by ROOF, a European-focused soccer agency that was acquired by Klutch parent UTA in 2024. Estimates for WME Basketball are strictly for the divested basketball division of WME Sports. The list considers both playing and marketing contracts for clients in all team sports at the ranked agencies (including sports that have a relatively small presence in North America, such as cricket and rugby). The list also considers marketing contracts for clients in individual sports, such as golf and tennis, as well as clients who are retired. In addition to endorsements, the non-playing contract estimates include contracts for coaches and sports media personalities and athletes' content deals. All figures reflect only individual talent; agency divisions that represent brands or sports properties such as leagues and teams are not included. Clients from outside the sports world are also excluded in the case of agencies that have entertainment divisions, such as CAA, Wasserman, Klutch/UTA and Roc Nation. Contract figures represent estimates of the total value of all active deals under management as of December 31, 2024, including both money that has already been paid out and money that has yet to be paid. To calculate commissions on playing contracts, Forbes multiplied the contract value either by the maximum agent fee allowed by that league's players' union or by the standard market rate in cases where there is no cap—3% in the NFL, 4% in the NBA and the NHL, 5% in MLB and 10% in European soccer. (In golf and tennis, agents traditionally do not earn commissions on their clients' prize money.) Forbes assumes a 20% commission rate on endorsement contracts, and lower rates on other sorts of non-playing contracts, in line with industry standards. Forbes' contract total estimates are rounded to the nearest $10 million. Maximum commission estimates are rounded to the nearest $1 million. Agency client count estimates are rounded to the nearest 10. Figures were compiled through conversations with industry insiders and with the help of public reports and databases such as Spotrac, Inside the League, PuckPedia and Capology. Some clients and contract figures that could not be independently corroborated were not included. More From Forbes Forbes Talent Agency Wasserman Expands NHL Division With Deal For KO Sports By Brett Knight Forbes Private Equity Firm Velocity Capital Is Investing More Than $100 Million In A European Soccer Agency By Justin Birnbaum Forbes As The NHL Grows, A Dominant Sports Agency Thinks Hockey Marketing Is No Longer On Thin Ice By Brett Knight Forbes The World's 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2025 By Brett Knight
Forbes
a minute ago
- Forbes
The Most Powerful Sports Agents 2025
T he 15-year, $765 million contract Juan Soto signed with the New York Mets in December gave the 26-year-old slugging outfielder the all-time mark for the largest deal in professional sports. But the agent who negotiated that landmark contract didn't even need it to maintain his place atop the financial leaderboard. Scott Boras, founder and president of the Southern California-based Boras Corporation, is once again the most powerful sports agent in North American team sports, with commissions of up to $244 million on an estimated $4.89 billion in active playing contracts under management as of December 31, 2024. That record-setting commissions figure represents a 28% increase from the last time Forbes published the agent ranking, in 2022. Boras has now landed in the top spot nine times across the 10 editions of the Forbes list, which made its debut in 2013 and is sorted by the maximum commissions that agents can earn based on the standard fee percentage in each league. The lone exception was in 2019, when Boras dropped behind soccer super-agent Jonathan Barnett; however, Forbes has confined its 2022 and 2025 rankings to North America, setting aside Europeans like Barnett, who is now retired and has been accused of rape and trafficking. (Barnett has denied the claims.) On this year's list, Jeff Schwartz, CEO of Excel Sports Management and a powerful NBA agent, remains No. 2 with $113 million in maximum commissions on an estimated $2.84 billion in active contracts. Rich Paul, a fellow basketball agent and the founder of Klutch Sports Group, rounds out the top three with $111 million in maximum commissions on an estimated $2.77 billion in active contracts. The top 20 agents, who are each set to collect at least $32 million in maximum commissions across the life of the playing contracts they have negotiated, together manage more than $32 billion in active deals. They include four agents from CAA—North America's most valuable sports agency—and another four from Wasserman, which came in second in the agency ranking. Excel, with baseball agent Casey Close appearing alongside Schwartz, is the only other agency with more than one representative on the 2025 list. No agent is in the same ballpark as Boras, who has 113 clients but could have matched Schwartz's commissions total with just six of them: Soto, Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, Gerrit Cole, Xander Bogaerts and Anthony Rendon, who have each signed a contract for at least $245 million. The gap between Boras and the rest of the field is even starker because agents typically charge 5% in MLB, compared with 4% in the NBA and 3% in the NFL, where fees are limited by the players' unions, and a standard rate of 4% in the NHL. That difference helps explain the breakdown of the 2025 agent ranking by sport: eight agents from basketball, seven from baseball, three from football and two from hockey. The entire list has seen significant growth since 2022, however, as leagues' record revenues have pushed up player salaries, especially in the NBA. Schwartz's estimated contract total is up 32%, and Paul's 103%, for instance, while WME Basketball's Bill Duffy now ranks fourth overall among agents with $72 million in maximum commissions on $1.8 billion in estimated active contracts—up 77%, and five spots in the ranking, from 2022. Endorsement deals were excluded from the tabulation of this list in recognition of the fact that, at many major agencies, separate marketing divisions handle all or much of the work around those contracts. (That approach effectively rules out agents from individual sports, such as golf and tennis, where athletes generally don't collect salaries.) Even so, the role of a sports agent is increasingly being stretched well beyond the boundaries of a playing contract, often in ways that don't directly lead to income. Agents now frequently orchestrate training regimens for their clients ahead of league drafts. They cultivate investment opportunities and nurture athlete-founded businesses, sometimes continuing to serve as financial advisors well after athletes have stopped playing professionally. They might also be asked to coordinate media appearances, or secure box seats for a marquee event. And at CAA, for instance, Pat Brisson (No. 6 on the agent list with $62 million in maximum commissions) takes special pride in his hockey group's ability to guide players through medical decisions, tapping a network of experts independent of team-employed doctors. 'You have to think about athletes in a different way now,' Excel's Schwartz says. 'The more complicated the world gets, the more hats you're wearing as an agent.' Most Powerful Sports Agents 2025 #1. Scott Boras Adam Hunger/Associated Press Agency: Boras Corporation Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, Juan Soto Estimated Clients: 113 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $4.89 billion Maximum Commissions: $244 million #2. Jeff Schwartz Agency: Excel Sports Management Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Cade Cunningham, Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray Estimated Clients: 45 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $2.84 billion Maximum Commissions: $113 million #3. Rich Paul Marcio Jose/Associated Press Agency: Klutch Sports Group/UTA Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Anthony Davis, Darius Garland, LeBron James Estimated Clients: 40 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $2.77 billion Maximum Commissions: $111 million #4. Bill Duffy Jeff Chiu/Associated Press Agency: WME Basketball Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren Estimated Clients: 76 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.8 billion Maximum Commissions: $72 million #5. Joel Wolfe Agency: Wasserman Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Trevor Story, Tyler Glasnow Estimated Clients: 17 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.26 billion Maximum Commissions: $63 million #6. Pat BrissonAgency: CAA Sport: Hockey Key Clients: Sidney Crosby, Jack Hughes, Nathan MacKinnon Estimated Clients: 93 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.56 billion Maximum Commissions: $62 million #7. David Mulugheta Agency: Athletes First Sport: Football Key Clients: Jordan Love, Micah Parsons, Jalen Ramsey Estimated Clients: 55 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.93 billion Maximum Commissions: $58 million #8. Dan Lozano Agency: MVP Sports Group Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Yordan Alvarez, Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. Estimated Clients: 46 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.14 billion Maximum Commissions: $57 million #9. Casey Close Kathy Willens/Associated Press Agency: Excel Sports Management Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Clayton Kershaw, Cal Raleigh, Kyle Tucker Estimated Clients: 38 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.12 billion Maximum Commissions: $56 million #10. Craig Oster Newport Sports Management Agency: Newport Sports Management Sport: Hockey Key Clients: Rasmus Dahlin, Mark Stone, Matthew Tkachuk Estimated Clients: 77 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.32 billion Maximum Commissions: $53 million #11. Austin Brown Agency: CAA Sport: Basketball Key Clients: OG Anunoby, Jaren Jackson Jr., Donovan Mitchell Estimated Clients: 29 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.32 billion Maximum Commissions: $53 million #12. Mark Bartelstein Priority Sports & Entertainment Agency: Priority Sports & Entertainment Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Bradley Beal, Kon Knueppel, Michael Porter Jr. Estimated Clients: 60 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.31 billion Maximum Commissions: $53 million #13. Aaron Mintz Agency: CAA Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Paul George, Tyrese Haliburton, Trae Young Estimated Clients: 28 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.29 billion Maximum Commissions: $52 million #14. Joel Segal Agency: WIN Sports Group Sport: Football Key Clients: Brock Bowers, Christian McCaffrey, Jared Verse Estimated Clients: 60 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.69 billion Maximum Commissions: $51 million #15. Jason Glushon Agency: Glushon Sports Management Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Franz Wagner Estimated Clients: 18 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.14 billion Maximum Commissions: $46 million #16. Thad Foucher Donato Sardella/SaksAgency: Wasserman Sport: Basketball Key Clients: Stephon Castle, Luguentz Dort, Evan Mobley Estimated Clients: 23 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.13 billion Maximum Commissions: $45 million #17. Drew Rosenhaus Chris Szagola/Associated Press Agency: Rosenhaus Sports Representation Sport: Football Key Clients: Christian Darrisaw, Tyreek Hill, D.J. Moore Estimated Clients: 114 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $1.5 billion Maximum Commissions: $45 million #18. Nez Balelo Brian Rothmuller/Agency: CAA Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Sandy Alcantara, Shohei Ohtani, Marcell Ozuna Estimated Clients: 4 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $790 million Maximum Commissions: $39 million #19. Nick Chanock Agency: Wasserman Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Javier Baez, Jose Berrios, Ryan Helsley Estimated Clients: 10 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $770 million Maximum Commissions: $39 million #20. B.B. Abbott Agency: Wasserman Sport: Baseball Key Clients: Matt Olson, Chris Sale, Zack Wheeler Estimated Clients: 16 Estimated Playing Contracts Under Management: $630 million Maximum Commissions: $32 million Methodology Forbes' 2025 list of the most powerful sports agents includes agents focused on North American team sports, ranked by an estimate of the maximum commissions they can generate from the contracts they manage. Unlike some previous editions of the list, the 2025 ranking does not include European soccer agents. And unlike Forbes' list of the most valuable sports agencies, this ranking does not consider endorsement deals—only playing contracts. Thus, the ranking excludes agents in individual sports such as golf and tennis, who traditionally do not collect commissions on their clients' prize money and focus instead on marketing contracts. Contract figures represent estimates of the total value of all active deals under management as of December 31, 2024, including both money that had already been paid out and money that had yet to be paid. To calculate commissions, Forbes multiplied the contract value either by the maximum agent fee allowed by that league's players' union or by the standard market rate (3% in the NFL, 4% in the NBA and the NHL, 5% in MLB). Agents often work in teams or with support from junior agents; for this ranking, contract values are assigned to the lead agent for each client. In cases where an athlete is co-represented by multiple agents and there is no discernible lead, a portion of the contract value is assigned to each agent. In recognition of the particularly high degree of collaboration among agents within CAA's football division, its agents were excluded from this year's list; however, CAA's agents were considered in baseball, basketball and hockey. Forbes' contract total estimates are rounded to the nearest $10 million. Maximum commission estimates are rounded to the nearest $1 million. Figures were compiled through conversations with industry insiders and with the help of public reports and databases such as Spotrac, Inside the League, PuckPedia and Capology. Some clients and contract figures that could not be independently corroborated were not included. More From Forbes Forbes Talent Agency Wasserman Expands NHL Division With Deal For KO Sports By Brett Knight Forbes Private Equity Firm Velocity Capital Is Investing More Than $100 Million In A European Soccer Agency By Justin Birnbaum Forbes As The NHL Grows, A Dominant Sports Agency Thinks Hockey Marketing Is No Longer On Thin Ice By Brett Knight Forbes The World's 10 Highest-Paid Athletes 2025 By Brett Knight
Los Angeles Times
30 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
She left college to conquer tennis. At 81, Billie Jean King is back, chasing a degree
Everyone reaches a point in life when it's OK to sink into the easy chair, prop up their feet and take a deep breath. Apparently, no one has told this to Billie Jean King. Since the time she was a child in Long Beach, raised by a firefighter and homemaker, King has been filling history books. She won more singles and doubles championships at Wimbledon than anyone before or since, and she was the No. 1 female tennis player in the world. She's been carrying a flag, for decades, for gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights in sports and society. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Fifty million people tuned in on their televisions one evening in 1973 and watched her whip Bobby Riggs in a tennis challenge billed as 'The Battle of the Sexes.' But King's resume, which would stretch from one end of Wimbledon's Center Court to the other and keep going, is missing one thing, and that was bugging her. The omission came up last year in a conversation she was having with the staff of her New York-based consulting, investing and marketing company. (Yes, she still runs a business and a foundation promoting education, leadership and activism.) 'I hate not finishing,' she recalls telling her colleagues. They asked what she meant. 'I haven't finished college,' she told them. 'And, you know, I should finish.' Yeah, what a slacker. In the spring this year, at the age of 81, Billie Jean King went back to school, chasing not a trophy, or a cup, or a medal, but a degree. And there was no doubt in her mind about where she would enroll — at the very school where she began her college education in the '60s before going pro. The school that has a statue of her near the courts where she used to smack tennis balls around. Cal State L.A. (Would anyone be surprised if she went out for the tennis team?) Lots of people start college and then take a pause. King's lasted 60 years. The woman who keeps making history is now majoring in it. She's taken several courses this year and will soon begin the fall semester as a senior, on track to graduate in the spring with a bachelor's degree in history. 'I'm having a great time,' she told me Wednesday by video link from her home in New York. King isn't strolling campus with a backpack and hanging with fellow students at the library and food court. Her business ventures keep her on the road and mostly on the East Coast, so she takes her classes remotely, usually one- on-one with professors who helped her craft a flexible schedule. She's also earned course credit for her interaction with other CSULA students who have taken a somewhat circuitous route to a bachelor's degree — they're enrolled in Cal State L.A.'s Prison Graduation Initiative while serving time. After I interviewed King, she spoke remotely with 32 inmate/students at the maximum-security state prison in Lancaster and sent me an email when she was done. 'They have made a commitment to improving their lives through education,' she said, and 'getting their degree will be life-changing for them.' A few months ago, she did the same hookup with inmate/students at the California Institute for Women in Chino. 'I wanted to know their stories,' King told me, adding that she told them to work together toward shared goals. She also asked them what they miss most while in prison. The answers, she said, were quite candid. 'One woman took total ownership. She said, 'I miss my children. I miss being free…. I even miss the husband that I killed.' Yes, that does sound pretty candid. King's fall classes will include U.S. and Latin American history. Her favorite spring semester class was historiography, a study of how historians research and interpret the past. 'It's like the history of history,' King said. I felt like I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask about her GPA. King said she hasn't gotten a report card yet, but says she's taking no shortcuts on assignments, and the homework load is not exactly light. 'I just read like crazy all the time,' said King, who has turned her paper chase into something of a cause. In social media posts extolling the value of continuing to engage, learn and grow — at any age — she sits next to a stack of assigned texts, including 'Contested Histories in Public Space' and 'Fighting Over the Founders.' She's also reading books on Title IX, the civil rights law that banned sexual discrimination in federally funded education programs. On that subject, King is more teacher than student. She was an early and persistent advocate for Title IX, and testified before Congress. 'The thing they like,' she said of her professors, 'is that I have lived some of these historical moments.' King said she hasn't been shy about pointing out what she considers errors in the telling of history she was a part of. 'It drives me crazy.' In that regard, and other obvious ways, King is not the prototypical Cal State L.A. student. 'It's been 50 years of changing the world,' communications studies department Chair David Olsen said of King's achievements. But in other ways, she's typical. I used to teach a class at CSULA, and most of my students were jugglers. They had jobs and families, and with so many other responsibilities and pursuits, they weren't in and out in four years. Some, like King, took a break but circled back. 'Oh, I guess I am like them,' King said. 'It's never too late to return, and it's never too late to finish,' Olsen said. 'The coming back, to me, is what's so important and inspiring' — especially because finishing her education was an elective rather than a requirement. 'To be a lifelong learner — that's an important lesson,' said Scott Wells, chair of the CSULA history department. 'She doesn't need to do this for career reasons or economic reasons. It's a reminder that higher education is not merely getting technical skills or a piece of paper for a job opportunity.... When she posted on social media, 'Here are the books I'm reading,' it's a way of saying that books are important and people should care about history.' I asked King, who's been at the forefront of so many social justice movements, what it's like to live through this moment in political and cultural history, in which many of the gains she fought for are under threat, and in which our heritage is depicted on government websites as white, covered wagon pioneers. 'How about slavery?' King said. 'Look at athletes who tried to travel. Look at Jackie Robinson. Look at Althea Gibson. 'I learned white history as a kid, and then I realized ... the people who were here first were our Indigenous people. ' History repeats itself, King said, and 'it's repeating itself again now' in disconcerting ways. 'I mean, we were fighting so hard ... for Roe vs. Wade, and we got it through,' she said of the landmark Supreme Court decision on women's reproductive rights in 1973. 'And now we're going backwards again.' Her job in her 80s, King said, is not to lead the resistance, but to ask the next generation what it wants and to offer guidance and support. 'It's important to know history, because the more you know about history, the more you know about yourself,' King said. 'But more importantly, it helps you shape the future.' I had one last question for King. The graduation ceremony is a really big deal at Cal State L.A., I told her. Many of the grads are first-generation college students, and the achievement is celebrated by cheering extended families. Will you walk the stage in the spring in cap and gown? She smiled. 'If I can,' she said, 'I will.'
