New Professional Women’s Hockey League Coming Soon?

[StanleyCupOneDay]

Jeff Marek just reported at the intermission of the Detroit Calgary game that while there’s no details or deal yet they are “close”.

 

Here’s the video of that conversation for those who missed it or without cable:

 

Please excuse my allergies:

 

I’m so happy this is almost a reality for women to play professional hockey and support themselves financially. It’s about frigging time!

Edited March 13, 2022 by StanleyCupOneDay

[wildcam]

I am sorry but women's league is not even close to talent of AHL or major JR hockey in Canada?? I would rather go watch WHL game or Abbotsford game only so much money to go around? WHL team would beat the WPHL team...The women's games are much slower sorry just not the same...

I wish them well, I guess they will get sponsors from major companies...

[-AJ-]

Would be cool to have a more prominent place for girls to find hockey heroes to look up to.

[StanleyCupOneDay]

1 hour ago, wildcam said:

I am sorry but women's league is not even close to talent of AHL or major JR hockey in Canada?? I would rather go watch WHL game or Abbotsford game only so much money to go around? WHL team would beat the WPHL team...The women's games are much slower sorry just not the same...

I wish them well, I guess they will get sponsors from major companies...

Question for you: How well did the men play in the first few years of the NHL? They were never even close to the AHL quality or hell the OHL, QMJHL or any of the lower tier leagues when they started. My point being you have to start somewhere in order to be able to improve over time. Can’t just turn on NHL caliber women’s hockey it must be created over the years to come through competition.
 

Worth mentioning that other countries women’s hockey programs are improving fast. Did you watch any women’s Olympic hockey this year? It was the most competitive tournament ever. There’s talent all over the world and more girls coming right behind in the pipeline.

 

I fully admit the quality of the games may not be fantastic to start, but let’s also remember how many NHL games we watch in a season that are just so boring and slow so to expect perfection immediately from women in a new league is unfair. Only when every girl has the same opportunity every boy has in sports and any occupation is when we achieve true equality in our society.

[bigbadcanucks]

3 hours ago, wildcam said:

I am sorry but women's league is not even close to talent of AHL or major JR hockey in Canada?? I would rather go watch WHL game or Abbotsford game only so much money to go around? WHL team would beat the WPHL team...The women's games are much slower sorry just not the same...

I wish them well, I guess they will get sponsors from major companies...

Be that may, the best and most compelling hockey rivalry in the world right now, IMHO, is Canadian Women vs. USA Women.  In fact the Women's Hockey Gold Medal Game was the only hockey worth watching at the Peking Olympics (yah, I know, Peking is now Beijing, but I've never had Beijing Duck before).  None of the men's games were even worth watching. 

 

I would spend money to watch Women's Professional Hockey.  I haven't paid for a Canucks game since the 2013-2014 season when I gave up my season ticket membership, which I had since the early 1990s (remember you could pay a little old Chinese lady $10 to park in her back yard near the Coliseum?).  I vowed never to spend money for tix after the 2013 lockout.  And plus, my wife wanted a house in White Rock back in 2013, so we sold our Yaletown condo to move the burbs.  It's a pain in the ass to get to games from White Rock when we used to walk 15 minutes to Rogers Arena.

 

I hope Vancouver gets a PWHPA franchise. 

[wildcam]

3 hours ago, StanleyCupOneDay said:

Question for you: How well did the men play in the first few years of the NHL? They were never even close to the AHL quality or hell the OHL, QMJHL or any of the lower tier leagues when they started. My point being you have to start somewhere in order to be able to improve over time. Can’t just turn on NHL caliber women’s hockey it must be created over the years to come through competition.
 

Worth mentioning that other countries women’s hockey programs are improving fast. Did you watch any women’s Olympic hockey this year? It was the most competitive tournament ever. There’s talent all over the world and more girls coming right behind in the pipeline.

 

I fully admit the quality of the games may not be fantastic to start, but let’s also remember how many NHL games we watch in a season that are just so boring and slow so to expect perfection immediately from women in a new league is unfair. Only when every girl has the same opportunity every boy has in sports and any occupation is when we achieve true equality in our society.

OMG, what are you talking about 100 years. There is a big difference between watching men and women sport?? Nothing about how many years the leagues have been around? I think you should go watch a few games before you make a statement?????.Have you watched a major JR hockey game ? The speed of these guys between 16-21 years old is crazy..No pro ladies team would come close to this... No big hits etc...Night and day different..

I have watched ladies hockey sorry the speed is not there? Maybe lucky to get 1500--2000 fans tops? How much for a ticket? $22-$30 for Canadian JR hockey league WHL, OHL

[Junkyard Dog]

4 hours ago, -AJ- said:

Would be cool to have a more prominent place for girls to find hockey heroes to look up to.

They definitely need more fan support/recognition. Not many women's professional sports leagues do well. In comparison International play does extremely well. In 2019 1.12 Billion people watched the Women's World Cup. To put that into perspective that's about 10x than the Superbowl in 2018. International play is by far the most watched women's sport

 

Only pro leagues off the top of my head that are popular are Women's tennis and MMA. It's popular due to the polarizing athletes(with it being a 1vs1 sport) making it so. Could be more that I don't know of.

[HKSR]

If Vancouver gets a team, I'd support them just as much as I do with the Canucks.

[Goal:thecup]

15 hours ago, bigbadcanucks said:

remember you could pay a little old Chinese lady $10 to park in her back yard near the Coliseum?

I most certainly do!

We parked all over her lawn.

(But where we were told to park; you'd understand if you have ever met an old Chinese lady.)

Drop somebody off to get Standing Room Only seats for the crew and then down the alley to park.

Once into the building head straight for seats between the blue lines and scoot down if the rich STHs showed up.

[D.B Cooper]

20 hours ago, wildcam said:

I am sorry but women's league is not even close to talent of AHL or major JR hockey in Canada?? I would rather go watch WHL game or Abbotsford game only so much money to go around? WHL team would beat the WPHL team...The women's games are much slower sorry just not the same...

I wish them well, I guess they will get sponsors from major companies...

Would the speed/quality be less than the men’s leagues?    
Yup

Will my 5 year old daughter see that?  
Nope. 
 

Will she be more inspired by going to a women’s game than an AHL game?   
Absolutely. 
 

Not everything is about what you like. 
Women make up pretty well 50% of the worlds population.  
They might enjoy watching pro women’s sports, ya think?

[Sativika]

On 3/13/2022 at 4:23 PM, D.B Cooper said:

Would the speed/quality be less than the men’s leagues?    
Yup

Will my 5 year old daughter see that?  
Nope. 
 

Will she be more inspired by going to a women’s game than an AHL game?   
Absolutely. 
 

Not everything is about what you like. 
Women make up pretty well 50% of the worlds population.  
They might enjoy watching pro women’s sports, ya think?

Agreed! That being said..........

......The thing is....TALENT!!!!!! Is there enough Hillary Knight's, Marie Phillip Poulin's, Sarah Fillier's, Lamoureux sister's, Spooner's, Kessel's, etc, etc, etc!!!!!!!!!! To go around. I will admit, The women's game is much better because other countries are surely catching up in fielding competitive teams to rival N.A. teams.  Case in point, the Fins vs USA gold medal game a couple of years back. (IMO, Fins got robbed.....) And I always try to watch women's Canada vs USA. Different than the men's game, but nonetheless, truly great hockey.

 

You'd definitely watch a women's professional hockey league if they were that entertaining to watch. It is my opinion that it could work.  Keep the teams small at first. Maybe no more than eight teams. Give 'em a decent salary. Maybe they'll have to have seasonal day jobs, but a good enough salary to support family, a good home, etc, while the hockey season is on. At least as comparable to AHL or CFL numbers. I dunno. What do you all think?!?!?!!???

 

 

[Goal:thecup]

Owners better have deep pockets; it will be very difficult to make money at this.

 

[D.B Cooper]

2 hours ago, Sativika said:

Agreed! That being said..........

......The thing is....TALENT!!!!!! Is there enough Hillary Knight's, Marie Phillip Poulin's, Sarah Fillier's, Lamoureux sister's, Spooner's, Kessel's, etc, etc, etc!!!!!!!!!! To go around. I will admit, The women's game is much better because other countries are surely catching up in fielding competitive teams to rival N.A. teams.  Case in point, the Fins vs USA gold medal game a couple of years back. (IMO, Fins got robbed.....) And I always try to watch women's Canada vs USA. Different than the men's game, but nonetheless, truly great hockey.

 

You'd definitely watch a women's professional hockey league if they were that entertaining to watch. It is my opinion that it could work.  Keep the teams small at first. Maybe no more than eight teams. Give 'em a decent salary. Maybe they'll have to have seasonal day jobs, but a good enough salary to support family, a good home, etc, while the hockey season is on. At least as comparable to AHL or CFL numbers. I dunno. What do you all think?!?!?!!???

 

 

There will be eventually.  
Players come from all countries because they want to play pro against the best.  
Start with a smaller league.  
As the better players start building, add expansion teams.  

It takes a long time and a lot of things to go right to build a successful league.  
 

The thing they have working for them, is women and young girls who like hockey should probably be fans, and they have A LOT of room to grow.  
The thing working against them…… the quality of hockey obviously won’t be NHL.  
 

I won’t be watching because it’s the best hockey out there.  
I’ll be watching because my young daughter is already showing a bit of interest in hockey, and I know that would explode if she got to watch women playing and showing her it can be done!

[StanleyCupOneDay]

Big news earlier today!

 

 

[StanleyCupOneDay]

On 3/16/2022 at 12:40 PM, Sativika said:

Agreed! That being said..........

......The thing is....TALENT!!!!!! Is there enough Hillary Knight's, Marie Phillip Poulin's, Sarah Fillier's, Lamoureux sister's, Spooner's, Kessel's, etc, etc, etc!!!!!!!!!! To go around. I will admit, The women's game is much better because other countries are surely catching up in fielding competitive teams to rival N.A. teams.  Case in point, the Fins vs USA gold medal game a couple of years back. (IMO, Fins got robbed.....) And I always try to watch women's Canada vs USA. Different than the men's game, but nonetheless, truly great hockey.

 

You'd definitely watch a women's professional hockey league if they were that entertaining to watch. It is my opinion that it could work.  Keep the teams small at first. Maybe no more than eight teams. Give 'em a decent salary. Maybe they'll have to have seasonal day jobs, but a good enough salary to support family, a good home, etc, while the hockey season is on. At least as comparable to AHL or CFL numbers. I dunno. What do you all think?!?!?!!???

 

 

I think you’re absolutely right. Anyone who watched the Women’s Olympic hockey tournament in its entirety this year would know just how much improvement and talent has grown across an ever expanding list of countries over the years. Less than a decade ago I didn’t think a women’s league had enough star power/talent to find success. And with it being the first try to do so in history the stakes couldn’t be higher. Failure means a very long time before it’s attempted again. I was firmly against the idea of a league then though I always supported our Canadian women teams. Now it’s so much different the quality of the on ice product.

 

Where I disagree with you is keeping the league at 8 teams to start. I agree you want to start small to ensure the financial viability of the league, but too small a number means too few teams to gain fans from. There’s a ton of million + people markets in the US and Canada available. I think starting out with 12 would be best and an 8 team playoff race to get most of the teams some exposure and experiences with fans to try to win whatever trophy they come up with.

 

Where I feel most conflicted and am open to hearing debates for/against on, is the number of games there should be in a regular season. I can see anywhere from 40-80, I really don’t know on that one. There’s arguments on both sides that seem credible. The “make sure quality is at the highest level by playing less so more effort can be used in-game in order to secure financial success” argument for low numbers of games. And the “women should have the same number of games as the men to ensure full equality and let the game improve over the long haul” argument for high number of games have some merit imo.