What we know about the PHF shutdown, and more on the new pro women’s hockey league

There was a major shake-up in professional women’s hockey on Thursday night.

The Premier Hockey Federation, according to multiple sources briefed on the situation, will cease all operations after being purchased by the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises.

The specific terms of the deal have been kept confidential, but according to a PHF memo sent to players on Friday obtained by The Athletic, “there was no financial profit for the PHF owners” in the sale.

The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association partnered with the Mark Walter Group and BJK Enterprises in May 2022 with the intent of launching a new women’s professional hockey league that could stand the test of time.

The new league — which does not yet have a finalized name — will launch in January 2024, according to an official announcement of the purchase on Friday.

This is a watershed moment for women’s hockey. Here’s what you need to know.

What does this mean for the future of women’s pro hockey?

After years of division and turmoil in professional women’s hockey, the path is now clear for one unified league in North America for all the best players.

The PHF was founded in 2015 as the National Women’s Hockey League by former commissioner Dani Rylan Kearney. It was the first women’s hockey league to pay its players. After its launch, there was an exodus of American players from the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, and with the lure of a salary, some Canadians left, too. The CWHL did not pay its players until 2017. However, that league folded abruptly in March 2019 after 12 seasons due to financial instability.

Two months after the CWHL folded, 200 of the top female hockey players announced they would forgo participation in any professional leagues in North America until they received “the resources professional hockey demands and deserves.” The group of players became formally known as the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association.

Some players stuck with the group and played in showcase events over the last four seasons; others joined the PHF as the league expanded and increased its salary cap.

For years there have been calls for one unified women’s league. But the PWHPA was unwilling to work with the PHF due to concerns over its business model and long-term viability.

Now that the PHF has been purchased, there will be one place for the top talent in North America, with the resources befitting professional athletes. If Olympic viewership is any indication, there is an appetite for women’s hockey at the elite level — the gold medal game between Canada and the U.S. averaged 3.54 million viewers on NBC and 2.7 million on CBC and Sportsnet during the 2022 Games. For the first time, a professional women’s hockey league could replicate the kind of intensity seen at the Olympics, meaning eyeballs could follow.

From a business perspective, sponsors and fans won’t have to choose which league to support. Broadcast partners won’t either.

“(This) enables us to be the place for every best player to want to play,” Stan Kasten, the president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who will be on the board of the new league, said in an interview with The Athletic on Friday afternoon. “I think there is no question now, we represent the very best opportunity for the finest players in the world to play.

“We know our mission, we have the finances, we have the infrastructure, we have the corporate backing and we have the leadership.”

GO DEEPER

PHF to cease operations; new women's hockey league launching in January

What do we know about the new league?

According to a press release sent by the PHF Friday morning, the new league will launch in January 2024.

The league will be “supported financially” by Mark and Kimbra Walter and led by board members including Billie Jean King, sports executive Ilana Kloss, and Kasten, according to Friday’s announcement.

The Athletic was first to report in March 2023 that a new pro league, launched by the Walter Group and BJK Enterprises, would be ready for the 2023-24 season.

The PWHPA bargaining committee members have been working behind the scenes for months, negotiating a landmark CBA. According to a person on the PWHPA call, players will be voting to ratify the CBA over the coming days. If it passes, and the expectation is that it will, puck drop will be in January 2024.

Having a CBA ratified before the start of the 2023-24 season would be a first for a major women’s professional league. The WNBA adopted its first CBA in 1999, two years after its inaugural season in 1997. The NWSL CBA was finalized last year, almost 10 years into the league’s existence. Meanwhile, the PHF had a set of league bylaws but not a CBA. According to players who have reviewed the CBA, items include: salaries in the range of $35,000 to $80,000 or more, housing stipends, relocation fees, medical and dental benefits, retirement plans, as well as maternity and parental leave.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” said one PWHPA player about the CBA.

Further details, such as where the teams will be located, are still to come, and Kasten said there will be more details on the league in the next 30 to 60 days.

“We are in the formative stages,” he said. “But I will tell you, I have had people working on names, working on logos, working on cities, working on venues, working on schedules. We’ve had people preparing and now we gotta go.”

According to people briefed on the situation, there will be six teams, with 23-player rosters. Players from both the PWHPA and the PHF — as well as NCAA graduates and international players — will have the opportunity to join the new league. Some players who had been a part of the PWHPA since its inception will not make a roster when the league launches. The same goes for players in the PHF. It is expected that there will be an entry draft and free agency period.

Although the CBA is being voted on by current PWHPA members, there is a path to union membership for former PHF players.

“Whoever gets into our league will become a union member and enjoy all the privileges the PW players spent a long time fighting for,” said Kasten.

Will the NHL get involved? 

Commissioner Gary Bettman has been staunch about the need for unification in women’s professional hockey. In March 2022, the PWHPA and PHF met at the behest of the commissioner in an attempt to reach an agreement that would bring the two sides together. But the PWHPA, as first reported by The Athletic in April, voted unanimously to end discussions about collaborating with the PHF.

“I’ve tried on more than one occasion,” Bettman said in January when asked about paving a way for unity in the women’s game. “They each seem intent on going in their own direction and I think in order for women’s hockey to be successful, I think everybody’s gotta be maximizing the effort together.”

Previously, Bettman has said that NHL teams did not have his imprimatur to work with the PWHPA. But a single league could open up a path to official NHL involvement.

Who is Mark Walter?

Mark Walter, the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has experience financing sports at the highest level and a massive bankroll.

Walter is the chief executive of investment firm Guggenheim Partners, which has over $300 billion in assets under management. Walter’s estimated net worth, via Forbes, is around $5.3 billion.

He has been an owner of the Dodgers since 2012, when his investment group purchased the team for $2.2 billion. He’s also part-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and is part of the ownership group that purchased Chelsea Football Club.

Kasten — the longtime baseball executive and president of the Dodgers – has also been involved with the PWHPA. Kasten is a part-owner of the Dodgers and has a business portfolio with Walter. In 1999, when the NHL awarded an expansion team to Atlanta, Kasten became president of the Thrashers as well as chairman of the newly built Philips Arena. He stepped down in 2003.

Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss — King’s longtime partner and CEO of BJK Enterprises — likewise have experience running sports organizations and bring obvious cachet of their own.

King, the former tennis champion, is a trailblazer for gender equity in sport and is involved with several ownership groups across professional sports via Billie Jean King Enterprises, including minority stakes in the NWSL’s Angel City FC, the Sparks and the Dodgers. She’s also worked as an adviser to the PWHPA over the last few years.

What happens to the PHF?

Players from the PHF have been plunged into uncertainty. Their contracts will be terminated and they will be looking for a new team to play for next season.

According to a league memo distributed on Friday and obtained by The Athletic, all players will be released from their contracts effective July 10, “which clears the way to pursue a contract with the new league.”

Over 70 players signed new contracts this offseason under the previously announced $1.5 million salary cap. Some contracts were worth as much as $150,000. Those deals will not be paid out in full. Instead, players will receive severance and a period of continued health benefits.

According to the memo, players signed for the 2023-24 season will receive insurance benefits through September 30, 2023, and compensation from the Player Equity Incentive Program announced in January 2022, which stated: “All players will benefit from 10 percent of the equity of each team.”

Additionally, according to the memo, there will be a PHF severance program that will pay players 1/12 of their contracted 2023-2024 season salary or $5,000, whichever is greater. Visa modification or amendment support will also be provided for players who play in the U.S. or Canada on visas. A player support office has been created to “guide all PHF players through this transition,” the memo said.

Regan Carey, commissioner of the PHF, will have a leadership role with the new league. According to Carey, the PHF was preparing for the full 2023-24 season and was operating “parallel realities.” During the offseason, she said, the league was having conversations about the purchase of the league while continuing to operate the PHF “in a way that allowed us to continue to thrive and do well in the event that the deal didn’t work out.”

Kasten and Carey did not want to divulge the full timeline, but Kasten said talks were on and off and “it wasn’t until the last couple months when both sides thought this might be good for everyone.”

With one North American league, there will be a constriction of the workforce, which will put the squeeze on players who might not be in the upper echelon of the women’s game.

According to the PHF memo, players who do not play in another professional league in 2023-24 will be eligible to receive funds from a $1 million fund. The minimum payment will be $10,000 per player, depending on the total number of players eligible for the fund.

Additionally, The Athletic has learned that the Mark Walter Group’s purchase included the PHF’s intellectual property, which means the new league could use some of the pre-existing franchise names and branding. However, that does not necessarily mean that if a team launches in Boston, for example, it would be called the “Boston Pride.”

Kasten confirmed that the group purchased assets from the league, but not “everything,” he said. He did not rule out any cities or venues.

(Photo of the Toronto Six playing the Connecticut Whales in the Isobel Cup playoffs: Steve Russell / Toronto Star via Getty Images)