Deal with Dodgers co-owner unifies women's pro hockey in North America, AP sources say

Professional women's hockey in North America was unified Thursday when a co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers struck a deal with the Premier Hockey Federation, two people with direct knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press.

The deal will result in a new women's hockey league that is projected to launch in January, one of the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement had been made.

Mark Walter's firm acquired what the other person described as “certain assets” of the PHF. The league had been locked into a dispute with the rival Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association. The PWHPA — which includes a majority of U.S. and Canadian national team players — had been working with the Mark Walter Group over the past 14 months in a bid to launch its own league.

A third person familiar with the details also confirmed the purchase by the Mark Walter Group, also speaking on the condition of anonymity because details of the acquisition haven’t been made public. Players for both the PHF and the PWHPA were informed of the purchase in a private meeting.

One of the people said the seven-team PHF, which was scheduled to enter its ninth season this fall, will cease operations. The new league will feature PWHPA chief Jayna Hefford and PHF Commissioner Reagan Carey in leadership roles, the same person said.

The PWHPA certified as a union this spring and was in the late phases of completing negotiations to establish a collective bargaining agreement. That was seen as the last hurdle before launching a league.

A vote to ratify the labor deal was expected to take place within the next week, but it's not clear whether that will happen now.

Among the many issues that need to be sorted out include the number of teams, where they will play and what will happen to existing PHF players’ contracts, some of which are worth more than $150,000 and run over two seasons. The PHF, which doubled each team’s salary cap to $1.5 million entering this season, has teams in Boston, Toronto and Montreal along with East Rutherford, New Jersey; Hartford, Connecticut; Buffalo, New York; and Richfield, Minnesota.

North American women's pro hockey has been divided since the PWHPA was formed in 2019 following the financial demise of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

PWHPA members balked at joining what was then called National Women’s Hockey League, which was later rebranded as the PHF. The PWHPA instead pursued its own vision of having a controlling interest in a league with a sustainable economic model and fair wages for players.

In May 2022, the PWHPA reached an agreement with Walter’s firm and Billie Jean Enterprises to pursue the formation of the new league.

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