PWHL and LA Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter pledges $5.5 million to Women’s Sports Foundation

NEW YORK (AP) — Mark Walter, the PWHL and Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner, pledged $5.5 million to the $55 million capital campaign of the Women’s Sports Foundation on Wednesday night.

Billie Jean King and nearly 100 athletes celebrated the 50th anniversary of the foundation, which King started with a $5,000 check.

Mark and Kimbra Walter received the Billie Jean King Leadership Award for starting the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

“Women’s sports have really turned the corner and it’s never going to go back,” Walter said. “Attendance, media rights, franchise values are all skyrocketing.”

King collaborated with Walter to form the PWHL, which begins its second season next month with teams in Boston, Minnesota, New York, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.

“Our sports teams, Guggenheim and other companies, are going to pledge $5.5 million,” Walter said, “to put our money where our mouth is.”

The 1999 U.S. women’s national team received the Wilma Rudolph Courage Award. The team won the World Cup before a record crowd of more than 90,000 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

“It wasn’t just about winning a World Cup,” said goalkeeper Briana Scurry, who accepted the award on behalf of her teammates. “It was about redefining the way people perceived women’s sports in this country.”

Lucinda Adams, the 87-year-old teammate of Rudolph on the 1960 Olympic gold medal 4×100 relay team, joined the soccer players on stage at Cipriani Wall Street.

The 2024 WNBA rookie class received the Next Gen Award. Indiana’s Caitlin Clark and Chicago’s Angel Reese helped produce record attendance and TV ratings this summer.

The Women’s Sports Foundation provides travel and training grants, local sports programs and mentoring for athletes and coaches. The foundation feted King and her partner Ilana Kloss, longtime advocates for equal pay and more investment in women’s sports.