The Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association will have a league in place by the start of the 2023-24 season. This is according to Hailey Salvian of The Athletic. The PWHPA has been striving since 2019 to realize an independent and profitable league for the world’s best women’s hockey players.
Salvian reported that the confirmation came from Stan Kasten. He is president of the Los Angeles Dodgers and business partner of Mark Walter. In addition, he is the Dodgers’ majority owner. The Mark Walter Group partnered with Billie Jean King Enterprises and the PWHPA in May last year to begin forming a new league.
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Potential team locations, season dates, and other details have not yet been made public. An official announcement has not been drafted yet.
The Athletic also reported that the PWHPA had formed an official union which is working on a collective bargaining agreement with its investors.
History of the PWHPA
For four seasons, the PWHPA has a showcase tournaments in the facilities of NHL teams as part of its Dream Gap Tour. Deodorant brand Secret became a naming sponsor in 2021. This season, games were broadcast on major channels including TSN, RDS and Sportsnet in Canada, and NBC Sports Washington and the NHL Network in the United States.
In December, the Ottawa Senators helped host the association’s first-ever All-Star Game. The Tour concluded this past weekend in southern California. There was support from the Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Seattle Kraken, and Coachella Valley Thunderbirds.
The PWHPA was first formed in May 2019 when over 200 players from Canada, the US, and Europe opted not to play in any professional hockey leagues in North America. In addition, this was after the dissolution of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League. The Premier Hockey Federation, at the time known as the National Women’s Hockey League. However, it had formed in 2015, but did not provide health insurance for players and had low player salaries.
