WNBA players saw an opportunity for more and launched Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 women's basketball league played during the WNBA offseason. With the PWHL featuring the longest offseason of any hockey league in the world, the opportunity is ripe for women's hockey to copy the format.
The PWHL offseason for playoff teams is six months long, and for non-playoff teams, it can span closer to seven months. Even following the draft and the peak of free agency, the league has a five month gap that can feel like an eternity for fans and sponsors.
It's also an environment ripe with opportunity for a league or event to launch mimicking women's basketball's highly successful Unrivaled league.
The WNBA typically runs from May through October. In the seven months that follow, women's basketball players used to travel to Europe, Asia, and Australia. The league sought to stop that via the WNBA's prioritization rule, but in the process, Unrivaled launched. Founded by league stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, Unrivaled has been packing arenas, including setting a new women's basketball record of 21,490 fans in Philadelphia in January 2026.
PWHL players could look to launch something similar, with the fan base desperate for more, and the search to shorten the league's abnormally long offseason when compared to other North American leagues like the NHL.
Can PWHL Players Launch A League?
Technically, no. Not without "the express written consent of the PWHL, which shall not be unreasonably withheld..."
That stipulation sits under Article 26 of the collective bargaining agreement which calls any hockey game that is not part of national team participation and "other than a casual pickup game" as hazardous.
Players have avoided the implementation of these stipulations for charity summer leagues like Living Sisu Hockey League, the Fraser Valley Super League, and Da Beauty League. Da Beauty League is in its 10th and final season, which will open an even larger void for women's hockey players, as it's the only major summer charity league for women's players in the USA.
PWHL players would need league sign off, but as the CBA stats, it should "not be unreasonably withheld..." and if the league itself is unwilling to shorten their offseason by schedule increases or other means, the players should have the chance to turn hockey into a better paying job.
When Unrivaled launched, it had an $8 million salary pool for the league's then six teams. With reduced roster sizes, many players were making more in Unrivaled than the WNBA, and the chance to do that for PWHL players, many of whom continue to make under $40,000 a season, would be a major moment.
3-on-3 Hockey Is Coming To The Olympics
By the 2034 Olympics in Utah, USA, 3-on-3 hockey will be a sport few in the world can ignore. The IIHF and IOC intend to add 3-on-3 hockey as an official Olympic sport for the 2034 Olympics.
The IIHF has hosted events like the IIHF 3X3 Series in Argentina last November to help grow the game. The IIHF did not mince words about their intent.
“The goal is not only to promote and develop the new 3x3 discipline within the Americas but also to get a confirmation that our new format is well accepted by the teams and fans—proof of concept, as it were," said Florian Mayer, the IIHF’s 3x3 Sport Manager at the time.
"Additionally, it is a great development format for the IIHF’s Associate Members to compete on an international level and participate in our development sessions. But our biggest goal is still to add the 3x3 discipline into the 2034 Winter Olympics.”
3-on-3 Professional Hockey Already Exists
3ICE is a 3-on-3 professional hockey league that made its debut in 2022 with a long list of men's Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ray Bourque, Grant Fuhr, Pierre Turgeon, Guy Charbonneau, Larry Murphy, and Joe Mullen, among others, serving as coaches.
The league immediately found national broadcasting, and brought together NHL veterans, as well as AHL, ECHL, and European players to compete. This season, 3ICE launched their first ever 3ICE World Cup hosted in Belfast, Ireland with teams from Great Britain, Germany, Canada, USA, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and Austria competing.
Former NHL players including Chase Pearson, Teemu Pulkkinen, Dmytro Timashov, Oliver Kylington, Kasimir Kaskisuo, Anton Levtchi, Jayce Hawryluk, and Dylan Ferguson were among participants.
The appetite for more women's hockey exists, the model between Unrivaled and 3ICE exists, and Olympic 3-on-3 hockey is less than a decade away. It all points to an unriveled opportunity for women's hockey and PWHL players to grow the sport, and their earning potential during the PWHL's prolonged offseason.
