Women’s sports are becoming increasingly popular. Nike recently reported that The U.S. Women’s World Cup jersey’s are currently their highest selling soccer jerseys — male or female. WNBA ratings are higher than they’ve been in the last five years. That being said, there’s still a very small percentage of women in ownership and executive positions in professional sports. Khalia Collier (@khaliacollier), owner of the St. Louis Surge, is doing everything she can to change that.
Black Women Taking Ownership In Pro Sports
Khalia Collier is in her 8th season owning the St. Louis Surge, a women’s professional basketball team in St. Louis. She’s also the General Manager of the team. Even more impressive, she began running the franchise at just 23 years old.
The lack of women in executive positions is alarming enough, but there’s only a handful of African American women majority owners in professional sports. Collier makes a point to hire black women in her front office.
“I feel lonely when I’m at sports conferences or when I’m on a panel and don’t see nearly enough women that look like me,” she said. “I have a responsibility to continue being a part of the evolution that’s happening in the sports industry and to not only create more opportunities but showcase the ones that are available.”
Providing Opportunities
Collier is also the newest commissioner of the league her team plays in, The Global Women’s Basketball Association. She uses her leadership position with the league to give women referees a chance to officiate high level competitive games. Going into this upcoming NBA season only 3 of it’s 117 active full-time officials are women.
Over her last 8 seasons as the majority owner The Surge have successfully won five regional championships and two national championships.
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