Writing a holiday wish list? Women's hockey deserves many things. Here's Ian Kennedy's holiday wish list for women's hockey.
It's the holiday season, and for many fans, there may be a hockey related gift to unwrap. For women's hockey fans, the main gift will be a return to action in the new year, where for the first time in nine months, a professional women's hockey game will be played between two North American teams.
But like all good holiday's, we can wish for a little more. Since The Hockey News' all-women's hockey site launched in April during the World Championship, we've welcomed a million viewers to our site, and published more than 1800 articles. In that short time, a lot has changed in the women's hockey world, while some things have remained the same. Here is our holiday wish list for the sport.
- Money - Like any gift giving event, there are worse things than opening an envelope filled with cash. This year will mark the largest salary cap in women's hockey history for a pro league. The $1,265,000 salary cap which corresponds to a league average of $55,000 is a great start. In the long run, this league will solidfy the landscape of professional women's hockey in North America, and be a smashing success for all involved. Currently, the bulk of salary will go to 36 players who signed three-year guaranteed contracts. It's no different than the stars in other top leagues, aside form the fact the lowest paid players aren't making $750,000, they're making $35,000. So this holiday, it would be nice to see more money given to the players. How? A revenue split with the players was not negotiated into the CBA. The CBA makes no mention of revenue splits, particularly for media and broadcasting rights. There will be a share on merchandise, and the league is paying out a lump some for use of commercial rights, which are both excellent steps. The only other way to get more players paid, is expansion, which is a topic the new league will approach carefully. It's not a topic likely to be seriously discussed until the end of the three-year guaranteed contracts. The PWHL is an amazing creation that will grow the sport in a way only realized by the inaugural World Championship and Olympic Games participation. That in itself is amazing, as long as the women involved share in the riches that come.
- No more division - Every good wish list needs a "peace on earth" type mention. Women's hockey has long had divides, most notably stemming back to the CWHL and NWHL. More recently, it was a fracture between the PWHPA and PHF. But it exists everywhere in women's hockey. If you log into your favorite social network, you're sure to see fans and dogmatists slinging blame in one direction or another. The division used to have clear lines that followed fandom, or some other ideological belief, but those lines are gone, and despite there being one league, the division has persisted for some. There is only one league at this point, and aside from a few dozen players in Europe, it is the best of the best, and will unequivocally be the best league in the world. The players are now teammates, and any animosity that existed there has long since washed away in practices and games. The only beef that remains is among outsiders looking in, and hopefully for the success of the game and league, all involved can find common ground, and create a culture of kindness.
- A new jersey - Who doesn't love getting a jersey for a holiday gift? Not every fan loved the inaugural and generic PWHL jerseys and merchandise, but they can be worn to represent the city and team indefinitely. But the real wish here, if for jerseys with names and logos that fans can love, and attach their sporting identity and fandom to for decades. With the league holding off their announcement on names, it appears they may be listening to the wish list of fans who wanted the PWHL to revisit the original six trademarked names. That's a good sign that lasting names and logos may be on the way for the league who is hoping to make a good impression on fans, and have memorabilia flying off shelves soon. And as silly as some of those names were, in the long run, fans will be fans and they'd embrace the New York Connecticut Raging Alpacas if that were the name. Opening a box on your birthday or a gift giving holiday with a brand new jersey featuring the name of your favourite player is an exciting moment, and it's one fans deserve.
- Entrance to the Hockey Hall of Fame - We're not talking about tickets, we're talking about more than a decade of missed opportunity and subjugation of women needing to be erased. The Hockey Hall of Fame has recently become the Hockey Hall of Mediocre for men, but legendary women remain excluded from the Hall. It's time the Hall of Fame acknowledges their exclusion and irrational gatekeeping against women. Only 10 women have ever been inducted, but based on the allowances, that number should be 24. Meanwhile men without major awards or Stanley Cups, without gold medals, are regularly being inducted.
- Television and Media - Apparently giving Netflix and Crave subscriptions as gifts is a thing these days. What most women's hockey fans clearly want however, is the ability to turn on their television, fire up a streaming platform, and watch high quality broadcasts of their favourite games. No more pinhole cameras. No more sky high views with blindspots like we saw at Metropolitan Riveters home games last year. And no more leagues making concessions to their own schedules, like the PHF running a one-game Isobel Cup final after a 2-out-of-3 semi-final because networks wouldn't broadcast multiple games. Fans want more, and the market is there. The PWHL plans to have this solved, and nothing could be more exciting, or more important for the growth of the sport and this league. This league will be a success and provide a sustainable place for women to play, and hopefully the entire world can watch that happen.