New Women's Pro Hockey League to Launch in 2024

A new women's professional hockey league plans to launch in January 2024 with PHF and PWHPA support, according to Friday's announcement.

There will be a new women's professional hockey league that plans to launch in January 2024.

Thursday night's reports about the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises acquiring the PHF were confirmed on Friday, as the new league was announced by Mark and Kimbra Walter, Billie Jean King and PHF governors Johanna and John Boynton. The PHF and PWHPA support this new league.

"The new league has acquired assets of the PHF and has spent months negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA)," the statement said. "These actions will enable the new league to move forward in unprecedented ways. 

"The new league will undertake a thorough and equitable process to ensure that it features the best women’s hockey players in the world."

The Walters are said to be financially supporting the league, which will be led by board members King, Billie Jean King Enterprises CEO Ilana Kloss and the MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers president Stan Kosten.

The Premier Hockey Federation was founded in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) and paid professional women's hockey players. The salary cap for this upcoming season doubled from last season to $1.5 million, leading to more players signing six-figure contracts and attracting free agents from college and overseas.

In the PHF's now-final season in 2022-23, it had expanded to seven teams, with the Toronto Six defeating the Minnesota Whitecaps to win the Isobel Cup. 

The PWHPA, meanwhile, has taken part in the Dream Gap Tour for four seasons since 2019-20, travelling across North America to play in showcases. The association has some of the top players in women's hockey, such as Marie-Philip Poulin, Hilary Knight, Sarah Nurse and many more. 

These players formed the association in 2019 "to promote, advance and support a single, viable professional women's ice hockey league in North America that showcases the greatest product of women's professional ice hockey in the world," according to the PWHPA website. This came after the CWHL ceased operations in May 2019 after 12 years of existence.

The Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises had been working with the PWHPA in efforts for a league of their own before acquiring the PHF.

"I have always believed that professional sports should bring the highest levels of performance and organization, and this new league will have the backing and resources it needs to represent the very best of women’s hockey," said Mark Walter in the statement.

Walter is a controlling owner of the Dodgers and WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks. He's also a partner of the ownership of Chelsea Football Club and owns a stake in the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.

Johanna Boynton said the announcement builds on the PHF's foundation as a "game-changer and catalyst for growth in the women's professional game" with collective and collaborative leadership.

"This is another step forward for the women who play professional hockey and the girls who dream of it every day," Johanna Boynton said in the statement.

The announcement did not confirm how many teams will be in this new league or what has happened to the contracts of PHF players.

Sportsnet's Jeff Marek reported that all contracts of PHF players were voided, while The Hockey News' Ian Kennedy reported some PHF women will receive exit money. Kennedy also reported there are likely to be six teams, with three in Canada and three in the United States. With the PHF having seven teams and the PWHPA Dream Gap Tour running with four teams, more than 100 players are at risk of being on the outside looking in, Kennedy reported.

For more details on the evolving situation and women's hockey coverage, visit The Hockey News' Women's Hockey site.