While six figure salaries hit the headlines, it's the sub six figure salaries that are making the biggest impact in the sustainability of professional women's hockey.
While six figure salaries hit the headlines, it's the sub six figure salaries that are making the biggest impact in the sustainability of professional women's hockey.
While there's been much celebration, rightfully so, for women being paid six figure salaries across the PHF this offseason, the most important contract in the league is one that doesn't feature as large of a dollar figure.
The value of that contract? $92,500.
That's the amount Metropolitan Riveters captain and leading scorer Madison Packer agreed to for the next two-seasons.
An original member of the NWHL and PHF, who has spent her entire professional career with the Riveters, Packer has been waiting to be paid a living wage as long as anyone in the sport. Packer has ridden the waves of trials and tribulations in women's hockey over the last eight seasons, watching the league slide toward the brink of failure, and rise again to the status it has today, one which is growing.
Perhaps it is that experience that saw Packer accept a slightly lower salary than many expected, and it's one that has earned her praise from her Metropolitan Riveters teammates and other veteran players across the league. Packer knew her worth, and took slightly less.
The reasons? Parity. Sustainability. Growth.
As many have pointed out in discussing salary figures in the league, for every contract exceeding $100,000, it means more players will be pushed to accept the league minimum of $30,000 to fill out rosters. The $30,000 league minimum represents massive growth over recent seasons, but it's still not a liveable wage, a point which Packer, according to teammates and opponents, presumably understands.
As sources from the Riveters confirmed, no one on the Metropolitan Riveters roster will be paid the league minimum this season.
The significance of that fact, an organization paying everyone above the league minimum cannot be overlooked in the sport-wide movement for pay equity and liveable wages.
According to MIT's Living Wage Calculator, two PHF cities, Newark-New York-Jesery City and Boston-Cambridge-Newton are two of the top five most expensive metropolitan areas to live in in America. In the Newark-New-York-Jersey City area where the Metropolitan Riveters play, the living wage for a family of four before taxes is $128,075.
Looking at that number for Packer, who has a wife and two children, it would have been easy to seek more.
Every $5000 or $10,000 extra for Packer however, would have meant $5000 or $10,000 less for a player making below a liveable wage, including those fresh out of university who are choosing to move to an expensive metropolitan region, and turn down other career opportunities.
Aside from Packer, three other Riveters signees have disclosed their salary terms. Among those players were rookies Lexie Adzija ($60,000) and Emma Seitz ($72,500) who each signed one-year deals, and veteran Kennedy Ganser who signed a two-year deal paying $40,000 in year one and $50,000 in year two.
So far this season across the PHF, seven players have announced contracts valued over $100,000 including Daryl Watts ($150,000, Toronto), Kennedy Marchment ($130,000, Connecticut), Kacey Bellamy ($122,000, Connecticut), Liz Schepers ($112,250 AAV, Minnesota), Taylor Girard ($110,000, Connecticut), Kati Tabin ($110,000, Toronto), and Allie Munroe ($105,000, Connecticut). No players from the Montreal Force, Boston Pride, or Buffalo Beauts have disclosed their salaries. All salary disclosures are at the player's discretion. These players are worth their wages. Marchment and Girard finished top five in league scoring, while Tabin was the top scoring defender in the league. Watts and Bellamy signed their contracts before ever stepping foot in the league, but came with impressive resumes. Munroe was fourth in scoring among blueliners, tops with the Whale, and Schepers was fourth in scoring on the Whitecaps, 34th in the league.
In a league that saw the salary cap jump from $150,000, to $300,000, to $750,000, and finally $1.5 million over the past four seasons, there will be a steep learning curve for players, agents, general managers, and owners in determining what value each player has to their roster. In evaluating that value of individual players however, the value of a sustainable living for all members of any professional women's hockey league can't be overlooked either.
If a team were to spend to the salary cap maximum of $1.5 million, and divide those funds evenly among all players, it would equate to a $65,217 salary for each player. Doing the same from the salary cap floor of $1,125,000, an equal salary of $48,913 would be possible spread across 23 players. While that type of salary distribution is unlikely and impractical, every deviation above or below these averages means more or less money for certain players.
In the NHL where the league minimum salary next season is $775,000 and the average salary last season was $3,196,767, the disparity between top and bottom players is less impactful on the short and longterm financial well being of players.
In professional women's hockey however, every penny counts in terms of building sustainable and liveable leagues. It's an issue that also exists in the PWHPA where USA and national team members are able to hold out for a new league indefinitely while earning six figure salaries from their national stipends. That accounts however, for 31 of the 98 players in the PWHPA, with the other 68.4% of that Association however made only the $24,000 paid by the PWHL Holdings LLC contracts players signed. National team players earn their six figures from those governing bodies, plus the $24,000 promotional period contracts. When a league is announced, or merger occurs, many of these players could demand six figure salaries on top of their six figure salaries, a situation that the PWHPA, PHF, or any new entity will need to navigate when that time comes.
In an ideal world, all players would be making more. In the WNBA, the minimum salary an undrafted rookie can make next season is just over $64,000. With smaller roster sizes and many years in hand in building their league, the comparison isn't fair, but it's a sign of what can happen.
While it's six figure contracts that grab headlines, contracts like Amanda Leveille's $62,500, CJ Jackson's $60,000, Leah Lum's $67,500, and Kennedy Ganser's $45,000 AAV deal also show progress. As Jackson told The Hockey News, for the first time ever as an athlete, Jackson is able to say "I'm a hockey player" when asked about a career.
It's a statement with immense power only a season or two removed from every player in the league needing a second job, and it's why contracts like Madison Packer's $92,500 deal are as important as deals worth six figures.