History
The Women's International Tennis Association (now the WTA) established the Virginia Slims Championship as its season-ending event in March of 1972. In 1986, the association switched to a season ending in November, so there were two championships that year.
Virginia Slims ended sponsorship after the 1994 season and the event became the WTA Tour Championship. It was played at Madison Square Garden 1979 through 2000. Since then, it's been played in Munich, Germany (2001); Los Angeles (2002-05); Madrid, Spain (2006-07); Doha, Qatar (2008-10); and Istanbul, Turkey (2011).