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Can the W.N.B.A. Be a Model for Women’s Hockey?
Top stars of women’s hockey are refusing to play in the National Women’s Hockey League, the only such league in North America, a stance that serves as a not-so-subtle message to the N.H.L.: It’s time to throw your weight behind our sport.
And the players have long had a model in mind: the W.N.B.A.
While the N.W.H.L. name contains the letters “N.H.L.,” it has no formal relationship with the men’s league, so similarities to the W.N.B.A. and the N.B.A. end there. But the pro basketball model is what women in hockey aspire to.
“The W.N.B.A.’s a great example of what could be,” said Monique Lamoureux-Morando, a leader of the movement for a more sustainable women’s hockey league.
The W.N.B.A. tips off its 23rd season on Friday, with unparalleled longevity in women’s pro sports. But challenges remain, including stagnant attendance and players’ citing of vast inequity in accommodations, television exposure and pay compared to what their N.B.A. counterparts receive, bringing into question how a “W.N.H.L.” would look under the N.H.L.
In a series of interviews, players, coaches and former W.N.B.A. presidents discussed how a “big brother” setup could work.
In 2010, N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman hired Val Ackerman to write a report on the state of women’s hockey. Bettman, who 22 years earlier as general counsel at the N.B.A. hired Ackerman as a league lawyer, knew that her experience starting the W.N.B.A. under the N.B.A. umbrella would provide valuable insight.
Ackerman, the first W.N.B.A. president, concluded that a similar women’s hockey league was not viable at the time. But thrilling Olympic Games and rising numbers of girls and women playing the sport have convinced Ackerman that women’s hockey with the N.H.L.’s backing today would be “a no-brainer.”
“It will likely be nonprofitable because the audience is small and needs to grow,” said Ackerman, now commissioner of the Big East Conference. “So it will take time, but that’s all the more an organization like the N.H.L., which has deep pockets, would be best to take it on.”
Last season, the N.W.H.L.’s five teams had average attendance figures ranging from 423 to 1,200. The league also reported that games streamed on YouTube and Twitter had an average viewership of 70,000.
For the 2018-19 season, the N.W.H.L. received $50,000 from the N.H.L., as did the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, which folded May 1. The almost 265 players between both leagues, competing in 16- or 28-game schedules, earned $2,000 to $10,000.
In 2017-18, the value of an N.H.L. team, on average, was a record $630 million, according to Forbes. This past season, the salary of an N.H.L. player ranged, on average, from $650,000 to $12.5 million.
“We do believe in the women’s game,” Bettman said this month. “We’re very supportive.”
Bettman said the N.H.L. had doubled its funding of the N.W.H.L. after the C.W.H.L. folded but had made no further commitments.
On Monday, the players seeking a better women’s hockey league announced the formation of a Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, in part to “work with companies, business leaders and sports professionals worldwide who already have voiced support for women’s hockey,” according to a statement from the organization.
The N.H.L. and influential hockey bodies had an opportunity to elevate the women’s game after the 2018 Winter Olympics generated widespread excitement, but the promised support has been slow to develop.
The W.N.B.A.’s start was predated by a strong promotional push behind the United States women’s national basketball team before the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Official announcements for the W.N.B.A. lined up perfectly to follow the American women’s gold medal performance.
Ackerman said it would be a mistake to wait for the 2022 Olympics and estimated that a “W.N.H.L.” could be started in a year.
“They have so much apparatus in place already; that’s the beauty of having a support system like that behind you,” Ackerman said. “You don’t have to hire every person you need to have success. They can add on additional job responsibilities. That’s what we did.”
While Olympic women’s hockey players appear more frequently at N.H.L. events and can be seen on NHL Network, the league has long said it would become fully involved in women’s hockey only if there were no other professional options.
Without the N.H.L.’s full support, the N.W.H.L. and C.W.H.L. struggled to open doors to an important audience: major sponsors.
That was not the case during the W.N.B.A.’s infancy. David Stern, who was then the N.B.A. commissioner, gave Ackerman access to every league department — from sponsorship to NBA Entertainment — with a specific contact assigned to assist the W.N.B.A. and report to Ackerman weekly.
One of the easiest and most important decisions was keeping the letters “N.B.A.” in W.N.B.A., said Ackerman, who put the W.N.B.A. on NBC, ESPN and Lifetime in its first season.
But while the N.B.A. was essential during the W.N.B.A.’s early life, the ensuing years have been less consistent, a worrisome sign for women’s hockey. Given the N.H.L.’s lukewarm relations with the N.W.H.L and the struggles of other women’s professional leagues, an N.B.A./W.N.B.A.-style alliance is by no means a slam dunk.
Last year, while the television audience was up, the W.N.B.A. teams’ attendance fell 12 percent to 6,769 fans per game, on average. In April 2018, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said on ESPN that a number of W.N.B.A. teams were losing money and that “we haven’t figured out a winning formula, to be quite honest.”
That led the Washington Mystics star Elena Delle Donne to reply that W.N.B.A. players “don’t get the support and coverage we deserve,” with increased pay a major point of contention.
Theresa Plaisance, a forward for the Dallas Wings, suggested that men’s leagues still needed to do a better job of merchandising for the women’s teams. When visiting athletic stores in Dallas, she sees nothing from her team.
Nike, the official supplier of W.N.B.A. merchandise, has recently been accused of treating female athletes differently. Its online store does not sell any W.N.B.A. player-specific merchandise, a similar complaint among women’s hockey players.
“How do you build a fan base when you can’t buy jerseys?” said Layshia Clarendon, a guard for the Connecticut Sun.
The W.N.B.A.’s most successful franchises are often those with engaged owners. The N.W.H.L.’s Buffalo Beauts, who were among the league leaders in attendance and made every Isobel Cup final, were owned by the active Pegula family, which also owns the N.H.L.’s Buffalo Sabres. This month, the Pegulas relinquished control of the team to the league after the mass player sit-out (the Devils also ended their two-year partnership with the N.W.H.L.’s Riveters). But outside of Buffalo, N.H.L. clubs have provided little to women’s hockey teams.
When asked what would happen if someone like Hilary Knight, the most visible star in women’s hockey, called him and asked for help establishing a sustainable league sooner, Bettman answered, “We’d have a conversation and see what she has in mind.”
Naila-Jean Meyers contributed reporting.
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