A new, yet-to-be-named professional women’s hockey league is underway, set to launch in January after union members cleared the last major hurdle Sunday by unanimously ratifying a collective bargaining agreement and constitution, a person with direct knowledge of the vote. she told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association has not announced the result of a vote by its 97 members. The ratification effectively clears the way for the launch of the new league, which will bring together the best female stars in North America, with the potential to attract the best in Europe and Asia as well.
The CBA runs through 2031, and having one before the league begins play marks a first for women’s professional sports in North America. The WNBA’s CBA was ratified in 1999, a year after the league’s launch, and the NWSL didn’t have its first CBA until last year, 10 years after its establishment.
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Boston Pride players cheer as coach Paul Mara raises the NWHL Isobel Cup trophy after the teams beat the Minnesota Whitecaps in the hockey championship game in Boston, Saturday, March 27, 2021. The Organizers announced plans on Friday, June 30, 2023 to launch a new women’s professional hockey league in January that they hope will provide a stable and financially sustainable home for the sport’s top players for years to come. The deal ends a lengthy standoff between the seven teams of the Professional Hockey Federation (PHF) and the PWHPA. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm, File)
The voting caps a three-day whirlwind that began when Los Angeles Dodgers president Mark Walter, one of the financial backers of the new hockey league, eliminated competition by buying out the rival seven-team Premier Hockey Federation.
What remains now is determining the name of the league and where its six teams will be based, three in the United States and three in Canada. After that, teams will begin recruiting, followed by a draft and free agency signing period to stock each franchise’s 23-player roster.
«I couldn’t be more proud of our group of players for sticking together and united throughout this process,» Sarah Nurse, a PWHPA board member and Canada national team player, said Friday.
«We really understood our value, and our faith has never deviated from that,» he added. «And looking at what we’re achieving with our CBA, which is paramount to us, it’s a great moment. And I know in the long run our sport is going to be much better.»
While the new league is open to all players, the CBA’s vote was limited to PWHPA members who have spent the past three months negotiating the deal with their financial backers, the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises.
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Los Angeles Dodgers owner & president Mark Walter, left, introduces tennis champion Billie Jean King at a press conference in Los Angeles on September 21, 2018. Organizers announced plans Friday, June 2023 to launch a new professional women’s hockey league in January that they hope will provide a stable and financially sustainable home for the sport’s best players for years to come. Mark Walter and his wife Kimbra, Dodgers team president Stan Kasten and tennis legend Billie Jean King will help run the league. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo, file)
Brant Feldman, a player agent who represents numerous members of the national team, issued a statement praising the CBA ratification as «groundbreaking for women’s sports.»
«Thank you to Mark Walter Group and BJK Enterprises for turning the conversation around that it’s a business and being in a mutually beneficial relationship with players early on, instead of trying to build a CBA on the fly after the issues commissioning have already started,” added Feldmann.
No longer rivals, a group of the PHF’s highest-profile players delivered a unifying message on Sunday saying they are eager to join forces, even at the expense of their league.
«Today, all women’s hockey players are united stronger than ever as we enter this new era,» the statement read. «As we embark on yet another league formation, we bring the power and infrastructure that we fought to build. We are very excited to see a unified league that will house the best athletes hockey has to offer and our goal is to build the most strong that can stand the test of time.»
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Connecticut Whale forward Amanda Conway (88) scores against the Boston Pride in the first period during the Premier Hockey Federations Isobel Cup final on March 28, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. The Mark Walter Group acquired what was described as «certain assets» of the PHF in a move Thursday, June 29, 2023, that has the potential to clear the way for a North American women’s hockey league, a person with direct knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press. . (Arielle Bader/Tampa Bay Times via AP, File)
The statement was issued by 11 players who formed a PHF leadership committee and featured at least one representative from each of the league’s seven franchises. Committee members include Boston Pride captain Jillian Dempsey, who holds the PHF record for goals, points and games played, Connecticut Whale’s Kacey Bellamy, former US Olympian and former PWHPA member, and Ann -Sophie Bettez of the Montreal Force, who played on the national championship team and is also a former member of the PWHPA.
News of the purchase reignited a familiar narrative about the so-called rift between the two sides, which PHF players wanted to dispel.
«We seek to turn away from the divisive narrative that too often plagued the many great achievements in professional women’s hockey, and come together as we collectively create the future of hockey,» the players wrote.
The developments meet the PWHPA’s vision of having a majority stake in a league with a sustainable economic model and fair wages for players.
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Team Sonnet goalie Erica Howe reaches for the puck during the first period of a hockey game against Team Bauer as part of the Secret Dream Gap Tour on Friday, March 4, 2022, in Arlington, Virginia. Organizers announced plans on Friday, June 30, 2023, to launch a new professional women’s hockey league in January that they hope will provide a stable and financially sustainable home for the sport’s best players for years to come. The deal ends a lengthy standoff between the seven teams of the Professional Hockey Federation (PHF) and the PWHPA. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
Just as important, the new league finally clears up what has been a confusing picture in North America for women’s hockey that has been divided by two factions over the best viable long-term approach. The split dates back to 2015, when the four-team National Women’s Hockey League, later renamed PHF, was founded as the first professional league on the continent to pay female hockey players a salary.
The PWHPA is made up of a majority of players from the US and Canadian national teams and was established in 2019 following the financial demise of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.
The group declined to join the NWHL due to philosophical differences revolving around its economic model as a start-up company reliant on investors, lack of health care benefits, and teams having dedicated facilities. Concerns about financial stability were also raised, especially after the NWHL was forced to cut player salaries by half a month in its second season to avoid bankruptcy.
By changing the name to PHF, the league eventually moved to incorporate private ownership, offer benefits, and increase wages. A $25 million commitment from the PHF board of governors saw each team’s salary caps go from $350,000 for the 2021-22 season to $750,000 last season and doubled entering the next year.
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A detailed view of a Philadelphia Flyers game puck in the faceoff circle during the game against the Montreal Canadiens at the Wells Fargo Center on March 28, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
«For the last two years, they’d tell us, ‘You just have to go play there,'» Nurse said, referring to the PHF. «Our players didn’t want to settle for what was currently out there. And obviously we did our thing. We just kept going.»
PHF players gave credit to members of the PWHPA and those who played key roles in their league.
«We are empowered to enter an environment that has a union and a CBA setting out a roadmap to continue to build,» they added. «Although this is the end of the PHF as we knew it, this evolution will never erase the tireless and thankless work of our athletes… We started this and we’re not done yet. Onward and upwards, together.»