There is a possibility the National Hockey League could sponsor a high-profile women's league that could serve to increase the number of strong female players all over the world. Talks have been held between the NHL and representatives of women's hockey, including Hayley Wickenheiser.
"We have been in a dialogue with Hockey Canada and women about potentially helping facilitate the creation of a women's league," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told media during the International Hockey Summit, which was held in Toronto in late August of 2010. "And to the extent we can do that, and there's a sound business model, it's something that we certainly would be looking to be helpful on."
Right now for women players it's college hockey and then a five team league, the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) that operates only in the Toronto area, Montreal and Boston. A larger and professional league seems to be distant but parties say talking about it is a start.
Hayley Wickenheiser Seeks Women's Hockey League
Wickenheiser, a three-time Olympic gold medal winner, who is retiring after the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia, told media at that time that she and the NHL and "...all the stakeholders in women’s hockey" were in meetings and that it is not the first time there had been talks about starting a professional women's hockey league.
“They’re looking at it right now from a sponsorship level to get it off the ground,” she said of the N.H.L. “We’re not talking about big salaries, just sensible steps to get it on the ice to entertain people and see where it can go, and then down the road having an elite, W.N.B.A.-type league.”
Sami Jo Small, a former Team Canada goalie and a founder and player in the CWHL, also took part in a session at the World Hockey Summit that brainstormed on women's hockey. "We don't want to move too fast," Small told media. "First let's...take out transfer fees so more European players can come over here to play, and lets have a plan in place once we get players over here, so they can live and play here.”
Jacques Rogge Gave an Olympic-sized Warning to Women's Hockey
Before the Canada - U.S. final at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February of 2010 - won by Canada - International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge made a statement that was disturbing to some fans of the women's game.
"There is a discrepancy there, everyone agrees with that. This is maybe the investment period in women's ice hockey," Rogge said in Vancouver. "I would personally give them more time to grow but there must be a period of improvement. We cannot continue without improvement."
The Olympic Committee could do what it did with softball and take it right out of the games, which would lower its profile dramtically. Is the discrepancy that big? In the 2006 Olympics Canada beat host Italy 18-0 and Slovakia by that same score at the 2010 Olympics, In Vancouver in 2010 Canada outscored their opponents 38-2 in winning the gold medal. The U.S. also had many lopsided wins.
Women's Hockey "Something They (the NHL) Want to Invest in" Says Team Canada Star
"They (the NHL) won't jump into anything that is not a viable business opportunity," Wickenheiser said at the summit in Toronto. "But I said look at it more from the sponsorship and investment view for the first few years. I think they see the women's side as something they want to invest in.
"Is (a league) viable right now? No. But it can be, and now is the time to try."
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