North American ice hockey’s Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) has approved its first-ever collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in preparation for launching a new women’s professional league together with the Premier Hockey League Federation (PHF) in January.
The new CBA, ratified by members of the PWHPA on Sunday (July 2) after a 72-hour voting window, will reportedly run for eight years, expiring in July 2031, according to multiple sources who have seen the document.
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The CBA, which is not yet available to the public, outlines player salaries and player-related expenses, benefits, player movement, roster size, travel, safety and working conditions, and more.
The CBA is the first in women’s professional ice hockey and comes after months of negotiations between the PHF’s new leadership – The Mark Walter Group (MWG) and Billie Jean King Enterprises (BJKE) – and a player-led bargaining committee from PWHPA that included Sarah Nurse, Liz Knox, Brianne Jenner, Hilary Knight, and Kendall Coyne Schofield.
On his social media Twitter account, player agent Brant Feldman called the agreement “groundbreaking for women’s sports” and thanked the MWG and BJKE.
The agreement means the new league owners can start operating the new league in January 2024. The soon-to-be-named league will reportedly feature six teams – three from the US and three from Canada.
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By GlobalDataThe PHF, a rival league to the PWHPA, was bought out by the MWG and BJKE last week – a move that will see the teams from PHF and PWHPA unite to feature in the new competition.
The merger has been years in the making, with Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the men’s NHL, previously urging the PHF and the PWHPA to come together for the good of the sport, after the NHL led talks around that subject in March last year.
The NHL previously said it is not able to provide financial support to build, own or operate a professional women’s league under the NHL umbrella while there are two competing women’s hockey leagues.
The PHF was founded in 2015 – as the National Women’s Hockey League – and since then has been the only professional option in North America for women. The league restructured in 2020 by bringing in private ownership and a board of governors.
The PWHPA, meanwhile, was founded four years later, in the aftermath of the demise of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.
Since then, the association has attracted several corporate and media partnerships – including 10 NHL teams it lists as partners (to base players in five hub cities, two in the US and three in Canada) – to practice and compete against each other in a series of weekend events across the continent known as the Dream Gap Tour.
Reports first emerged last year that MWG and BJKE were in discussions with the PWHPA on launching a new league.
Mark Walter is co-owner of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers and co-partner of the ownership group of Premier League soccer club Chelsea, while BJKE is an investment vehicle focused on women’s sports founded by former tennis star Billie Jean King last April.
Walter said: “I have always believed that professional sports should bring the highest levels of performance and organization, and this new league will have the backing and resources it needs to represent the very best of women’s hockey.”
Coyne Schofield added: “I am extremely proud of our PWHPA group, which has remained committed to our vision and steadfast in our efforts to change the landscape of women’s professional hockey forever.
“Over the past four years, we have worked tirelessly to close the gap on what young girls and boys could dream to become in this sport.”
In a statement, the PHF leadership committee added: “As we embark on another league formation, we bring the power and the infrastructure we fought to build.
“We are hugely excited to see a unified league that will house all of the best athletes that hockey has to offer and aim to build the strongest league that can stand the test of time.
“The PWHPA was an incredible mirror that asked us to reflect on the changes we desired and fight for them in solidarity, and we will bring that momentum with us.”
Image: Chris Tanouye/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images
