The News
Saturday 02 of November 2024

King returns to SoCal roots with ownership stake in Dodgers


FILE - In this Wednesday June 26 2013 file photo, former professional tennis champion Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss at the premier of Battle of the Sexes in London.  Billie Jean King and partner Ilana Kloss have joined the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group. The Dodgers made the announcement Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. The tennis great says Dodgers owner and chairman Mark Walter and the organization have proven to be leaders in sports on and off the field. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP, File),FILE - In this Wednesday June 26 2013 file photo, former professional tennis champion Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss at the premier of Battle of the Sexes in London.  Billie Jean King and partner Ilana Kloss have joined the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group. The Dodgers made the announcement Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. The tennis great says Dodgers owner and chairman Mark Walter and the organization have proven to be leaders in sports on and off the field. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Wednesday June 26 2013 file photo, former professional tennis champion Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss at the premier of Battle of the Sexes in London. Billie Jean King and partner Ilana Kloss have joined the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group. The Dodgers made the announcement Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. The tennis great says Dodgers owner and chairman Mark Walter and the organization have proven to be leaders in sports on and off the field. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP, File),FILE - In this Wednesday June 26 2013 file photo, former professional tennis champion Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss at the premier of Battle of the Sexes in London. Billie Jean King and partner Ilana Kloss have joined the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group. The Dodgers made the announcement Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. The tennis great says Dodgers owner and chairman Mark Walter and the organization have proven to be leaders in sports on and off the field. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Billie Jean King has gone back to her roots in becoming part of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ ownership group.

The tennis champion first became enamored with the team when it arrived from Brooklyn in 1958. King says she and younger brother Randy Moffitt “grew up bleeding Dodger blue” in Long Beach. Moffitt later pitched in the majors for teams that included the rival San Francisco Giants, or as King puts it “the wrong team.”

King and her partner Ilana Kloss have taken an undisclosed stake in the Dodgers at the invitation of owner Mark Walter. Pending approval by the WNBA, they are also expected to have an ownership interest in the Los Angeles Sparks.

King says she hopes they “can make a difference that’s meaningful and be impactful.”

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