First published in The Globe and Mail, September 19, 2023
Link to original article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-professional-womens-hockey-league-should-look-to-the-model-of/
Another year, another upstart league for professional women’s hockey. Starting in January, 2024, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) will follow the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, the National Women’s Hockey League, and the Premier Hockey Federation that came before it. This time, the league will have six yet-to-be-named teams (three in Canada and three in the United States), an official partnership with the NHL, and hockey lifer Brian Burke as its executive director. Six players on each squad will be guaranteed salaries of at least US$80,000 for three seasons, stemming from the first collective bargaining agreement for a women’s pro sports league from its inception. Not bad.
The money behind the league, billionaire Mark Walter, also has a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Dodgers, the L.A. Sparks WNBA team, as well as the English Premier League’s Chelsea Football Club. Mr. Walter brings sufficiently deep pockets that can likely withstand many years of losses. Board members, such as tennis legend Billie Jean King, signal credibility and a connection to sports history.
Maybe it will work. But as it is currently structured, it’s not the best shot a women’s pro hockey league has for success.
When women’s sport is able to attract its highest viewership, engagement and attendance, it is usually by building upon a pre-existing mass emotional allegiance. Interest in women’s hockey hits a peak every four years because Canadians like watching Canadians win in the Winter Olympics, a competition they see as meaningful. Whether it’s an affinity for a university alma mater, or the nationalism driving interest in the Olympics or World Cup tournaments, competitions that do not have this existing emotional connection to a mass audience are starting from a much smaller base of interest.
The author's own picture from Vancouver 2010 with a circa 2007 digital camera!
What potential team names will have the best chance of success for a pro women’s hockey team? Local references – maybe the Toronto Six? A branded venture, i.e. Team Scotiabank? Or just the Toronto Maple Leafs Women’s team? If the answer wasn’t already obvious, we can look to Europe. Recent years have seen the world’s largest soccer clubs invest heavily in their women’s sides. Chelsea F.C. Women, Arsenal Women’s F.C., Manchester United W.F.C., to name a few examples – these teams all, in short order, now have resources, salaries, and fan bases to rival or exceed those seen in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), the previously dominant American league.
The rebalancing of women’s soccer that was evident during this summer’s World Cup is being driven at the club level. Rather than playing for a generic team, the women at Manchester United and Chelsea play in a competition that means something to fans already steeped in the culture of their clubs; otherwise, they may have had little interest. At Manchester City, the world’s best men’s team shares its social media platforms almost equally with its women’s squad. Last year, F.C. Barcelona packed its Camp Nou stadium with another crowd of more than 91,000 – but this time, it was for the women’s team. The resources and brand affinity of big clubs have been lighter fluid for the women’s game.
So why are the NHL and its strongest franchises seemingly uninterested in direct ownership? The likely answer is that they see this as a financial and image-based risk. According to Bloomberg, despite more than 25 years of league history and growing revenue, players in the WNBA have actually seen their salaries shrink in recent seasons. If Auston Matthews makes US$13-million a year and Natalie Spooner earns only a small fraction of that while they both play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the image risk becomes apparent. Maybe the nascent PWHL is as close as the NHL is willing to get: formal support and good vibes, but not direct ownership or club brand sharing.
In which case, the NWSL’s model is realistically the best outcome for the PWHL. Ticket sales and sponsorship for the NWSL drive enough revenue to fund travel costs and modest player salaries, while a manageable operating deficit allows patient owners to hope their franchises will appreciate over time. And while the hockey equivalent of the NWSL would be a good result, European soccer is already showing what a women’s hockey league could be if the teams were directly integrated into the leading brands of the sport.
A much younger author (in need of a haircut) at the Vancouver 2010 women's gold medal game meeting the kind and good humoured Olympic men's figure skating champion Evan Lysacek.
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