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Tag: NWHLPA

  • NWHL and NWHLPA Reach Agreement for the 2019-20 Season

    NWHL and NWHLPA Reach Agreement for the 2019-20 Season

    Today the NWHL and NWHLPA announced that they have reached an agreement for the 2019-20 season featuring the first ever revenue sharing agreement, plus higher salaries and better benefits.

     

    Per the release this is a one year deal between the league and the players association, which also features an option to extend the agreement for the 2020-21 season by the NWHL. Also under this deal the players will make substantial gains in both revenue and benefits, which is a first in the NWHL since the inaugural season in 2015.

     

    Highlights of 2019-20 NWHL-NWHLPA Agreement feature:

    • Ensures a full 24-game schedule for all five NWHL teams during the 2019-20 season beginning in October 2019 and concluding in April 2020
    • For the first time, includes NWHL players in fifty-fifty sponsor revenue sharing after league operating expenses have been met
    • Salary increases above the 2018-19 season agreement
    • Significant increases to travel, per diem and meal allotments
    • League option to extend the agreement to 2020-21 season

    Director of the NWHLPA Anya Battaligno issued the following statement in regards of todays release:

    “This agreement comes at a critical time for our sport ensuring that the NWHL will have a full 2019-20 season and signifying a breakthrough for our players as we will be included in revenue sharing for the first time this season and every season moving forward. We as players have a proud history and strong connection to the NWHL as the first ever league to pay women hockey players, so it was important for us to honor that relationship by coming to terms that will keep the league going, which this contract achieves. We continue to regard NWHL and its leadership as our strong partners in growing the sport of women’s hockey.

    “Our players are united in the belief that women’s hockey needs additional and consistent sponsorship revenue, equitable marketing, a media partnership and better exposure to grow attendance, viewership and sustain a fan base. We remain committed to driving women’s hockey into a profitable place that will eventually deliver livable salaries and benefits for our world class athletes. We choose to play the game toward that goal rather than waiting idly for change.

    “We look forward to a successful 2019-20 season.”

     

    We here at TXHT are excited by this announcement and how this agreement between the NWHL and the NWHLPA, and we are excited about the continued growth of Women’s Hockey. We look forward to the upcoming 2019-20 season.

  • Women’s Hockey News – 200 Women to Boycott for a Viable Long Term Hockey League

    Women’s Hockey News – 200 Women to Boycott for a Viable Long Term Hockey League

    A little before noon today over 200 professional female hockey players announced that they will be boycotting this upcoming season until the get a “Long-Term Viable” Professional Women’s Hockey League.

    IMG_20190502_112527

     

    In the statement above that was released by around 200 professional female hockey players it states that it is time to create a sustainable league for Women’s hockey that will give them the abilities to have health insurance, have the ability to train adequately for games, and most importantly, making a livable wage playing hockey.

     

    A couple hours after the #ForTheGame announcement was made, NWHL put out the following statement:

    Screenshot_20190502-134630_Yahoo Mail

     

    In this statement from the NWHL, the biggest takeaway is that they have all intentions moving forward with the 2019-20 season, and that they will be offering increased salaries, and a 50-50 in revenue from sponsorships and media rights deals after long constructive and positive conversations with the NWHL Player’s Association over the past month.

     

    In regards to the NWHLPA, Director Anya Battaglino had the following statement when reached for comment on the news:

    “In the off season the NWHLPA has been working hard to continue to drive the betterment of our professional athletes every day. This announcement halts our ability to finally have the best players on one stage, and unfortunately sets the Women’s Hockey game backward. With the powerful opportunity we have this year to drive unprecedented growth, this new fragmentation will only slow that growth.”

     

    While examining Mrs. Battaglino’s statement here, we have to agree with her assessment on this situation. While yesterday, May 1st, marked the official end of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) as they closed their doors, the NWHL acted swiftly and added two more teams to their league with the prospects of a third team to make it an 8 team league when the initial announcement was made in an effort to give more women an opportunity to play professionally in the NWHL.

     

    Also, look at the growth of Women’s hockey in these last two years specifically. From the US Olympic Hockey Team winning the gold medal against Team Canada, to setting a US attendance record for a Women’s hockey game at the NWHL All Star Game in Nashville, to having Kendall Coyne Schofield becoming the first woman to participate in the NHL All Star Skills Competition. These women have made great gains only to halt it’s momentum to a near dead halt, and it’s a damn shame.

     

    Do these women deserve to play professionally, and make a living wage doing so? Oh hell yes they do. They deserve it, and most importantly they’ve earned it, but what they are doing does not seem like the way to go about it. While we don’t have the answers here ourselves, we do believe that there has to be a better way to accomplish the ultimate goal, and that is to have the ultimate professional Women’s hockey league that brings great stability and a long term viable option for women to play the game.

     

    We do know that one player has spoken out against the #ForTheGame movement as reported by The Ice Garden, and that is Boston Pride player Kaleigh Fratkin.

     

    We will have more here on TXHT as everything unfolds, but to quote our Connecticut Whale writer Christopher Vasilas ( @shaggy901516 ):

    “We’re definitely at the crossroads, every decision by the league and players is gonna have huge impact on future generations”