Building a League to Last: The PWHL's Launch and Rapid Expansion

Timeline

1. 2019Players form the PWHPA after the Canadian Women's Hockey League folds and decline to join the NWHL, later renamed the PHF.
2. May 2022The PWHPA agrees with the Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises to pursue a new league.
3. Jun 30, 2023The new league's backers announce they have bought the PHF; a new league will launch in January.
4. Jul 10, 2023All PHF player contracts are voided, with severance and a $1 million pool for players who do not sign elsewhere.
5. Aug 1, 2023The PWHL's eight-year collective bargaining agreement takes effect, running to July 31, 2031.
6. Jan 1, 2024The PWHL launches with six teams.
7. Apr 30, 2025The league announces expansion to Seattle, joining Vancouver as its first expansion teams for 2025-26.
8. May 2026The league announces Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas and San Jose as expansion teams for 2026-27 and releases a six-phase roster process built mainly on player signings.
9. May 26, 2026The players' union publishes individual salaries, showing 97 players earned less than $50,000 in 2025-26.
10. Jun 22, 2026Kilmer Sports Ventures and Ilitch Companies become the league's first outside investors.

The ethical issues

• Whether buying out and closing a rival league was fair to its players and staff.
• Locking in modest salary growth for eight years in exchange for early security.
• Concentrating ownership of every team in one entity.
• The pace of expansion and its effect on players' lives and job security.
• How to share the gains if the league succeeds.

Stakeholders

Stakeholder	Interests & obligations
PWHL players	Fair pay, job security and a voice in decisions such as expansion.
Former PHF players and staff	Jobs and contracts that disappeared when their league was bought and closed.
PWHL Players Association	Raising pay and protections within a fixed agreement.
The Walter Group and new investors	Building a valuable league and recovering their investment.
Fans and host cities	Stable teams and high-quality hockey.
Girls and young women in hockey	A durable professional pathway.

The case

Women’s professional hockey in North America has a history of leagues that folded or split. The Professional Women’s Hockey League was designed to break that pattern. It launched in January 2024 with a single wealthy owner, a long labor agreement and the world’s best players. By its fourth season it had doubled in size. Its success raises a different set of questions: who paid for the unification, who shares in the growth, and how fast is too fast?

Background

According to Sportsnet, North American women’s pro hockey had been divided since 2019, when the Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded and many top players formed the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association. PWHPA members declined to join the National Women’s Hockey League, later renamed the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), and pursued “a league with a sustainable economic model and fair wages for players.”^[2] In May 2022, the PWHPA reached an agreement with Mark Walter’s firm and Billie Jean King Enterprises to form a new league.^[2]

On June 30, 2023, the backers confirmed they had bought the PHF, which then had seven teams.^[2][3] Some PHF contracts were worth more than $150,000 and ran over two seasons.^[2] All PHF player contracts were voided effective July 10, 2023. Players kept health benefits through September 30 and received severance of one-twelfth of their 2023-24 salary or $5,000, whichever was greater. The Hockey News reported that a $1 million pool was set aside to pay at least $10,000 each to players who did not sign with the new league or another professional league.^[3]

The rules and governance

The PWHL is a single-entity league. Rather than independent owners licensing franchises, one company owns and operates every team. The league describes this as “the league’s single-entity ownership structure under The Walter Group.”^[4]

Players are represented by the PWHL Players Association. Their collective bargaining agreement runs from August 1, 2023, through July 31, 2031.^[1] It includes:

• a minimum annual base salary of $35,000 in the first year, with no more than nine minimum-salary players per team in that season;^[1]
• a required average team salary of $55,000, with both figures rising 3 percent a year;^[1]
• in the first season only, at least six players per team on three-year contracts of at least $80,000 a year;^[1]
• a monthly housing stipend of $1,500, rising $100 a year;^[1]
• a ban on terminating a contract because of pregnancy, maternity or parental leave, or training injuries.^[1]

CBC Sports noted that the agreement gave players rights to maternity leave, meals, per diems and housing stipends “for the first time.”^[9]

Inside the labor agreement

Beyond salaries, the 2023 agreement shows how the league priced a unified women’s game.^[1]

• Health and family. Medical, dental and vision coverage is “noncontributory,” with no premium for individual coverage. Players get life and long-term disability insurance and a 401(k) plan from January 2025.^[1] The league must keep paying a pregnant player’s salary and benefits until she is cleared to return or the season ends. Players who give birth, adopt, or whose partner gives birth get up to eight weeks of paid parental leave. Teams must provide a private, clean nursing space, and “a bathroom is not an acceptable accommodation.”^[1]
• Workplace protections. Workers’ compensation is guaranteed even where a state or province excludes professional athletes. The league must apply the USA Hockey concussion protocol. The agreement bars discrimination on grounds including “sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation” and “parental status.”^[1]
• Commercial rights. Players can refuse to endorse products or messaging that conflict with their “sincerely held political, moral, philosophical, or religious beliefs.” Commercial appearances the league requests pay at least $1,000 for up to two hours. The union is the players’ exclusive agent for group licensing of three or more players.^[1]

The agreement also has limits. Benefit costs covered by the cap may not exceed 25 percent of total player salaries in a league year, and the league may adjust benefits, after discussion with the union, to stay within it.^[1] Teams may trade players unless a contract says otherwise. Traded players have 48 hours to report during the season, followed by two days off “to organize their affairs.”^[1] The no-strike clause bars strikes, slowdowns and sympathy actions for the full eight-year term. It also commits the union to discourage players from demanding renegotiation while under contract.^[1] The league also holds broad media rights: it may use and license players’ performances “in any or all media… now known or hereafter developed,” during and after the agreement.^[1]

Launch and expansion

The PWHL began play on January 1, 2024, with six teams: Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa and Toronto.^[4] In April 2025, it announced Seattle, joining Vancouver as its first expansion teams for 2025-26, after a request-for-proposals process.^[4] In May 2026, it added Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas and San Jose for 2026-27, bringing the league to 12 teams.^[5][6]

Front Office Sports compared the pace with other leagues. The NHL took 50 years to grow from four to 12 teams, and the NWSL took nine years to reach 12. The WNBA reached 12 teams in two years, but six of its teams folded by 2009.^[7] A league spokesperson said expansion was “a direct response to the demand we’ve seen.”^[7] The league averaged 9,304 fans in the 2025-26 regular season, with Seattle and Vancouver both above 10,000. The New York team averaged 4,109.^[7]

For the 2026 expansion, the league used a six-phase roster process built mainly on signings, with a player selection process only as a fallback if expansion teams could not fill their rosters. Existing teams could protect players and lose no more than four players under contract, while expansion teams could offer one binding premium contract to a “cornerstone” player.^[6] Jayna Hefford, the league’s head of hockey operations, said the goal was “to give players a meaningful voice throughout the process while maintaining competitive balance.”^[6] A year earlier, Malaika Underwood, the union’s new executive director, had described how uncertainty about expansion trades could leave players unsure whether to renew their apartment leases.^[10]

On June 22, 2026, Kilmer Sports Ventures and Ilitch Companies became the league’s first outside investors. Sportico reported a $100 million investment from Kilmer, according to an analysis by the law firm Gowling WLG.^[8] The league remained a single entity.^[7][8]

Aftermath: the salary picture

In May 2026, players voted to publish individual salaries. The figures showed that the highest-paid player earned $126,090, while 97 players earned less than $50,000. Seventeen were on the minimum of $37,131.50.^[9] CBC Sports noted that because the agreement runs to 2031, “players aren’t likely to see bigger pay days any time soon, beyond the annual three per cent increase.”^[9] The agreement does not provide for players to share revenue from a future U.S. national television deal.^[10] Underwood said the original deal was meant “to set a bar” and that the union would seek to raise it.^[9] Some players also took less: several Montréal stars renegotiated their contracts downward so their team could add depth, and went on to win the 2026 championship.^[9]

Reserve players have been another concern. Underwood said reserves earn about $15,000 a year when not on the active roster and do not receive benefits such as the housing stipend, though they are expected to be ready to play.^[10]

The core dilemma

The PWHL’s model offers stability: one deep-pocketed owner, guaranteed salary floors and a long labor deal. It was built partly by buying and closing a rival league, and it locks in modest pay growth just as the business is expanding fast. The dilemma is how to balance sustainability, which favors caution and central control, against fairness to players, who took risks to build the league and want a share of its success.

Competing values

• Security vs. upside: an eight-year deal protected players in an untested league, but limits their gains if it succeeds.
• Unification vs. displacement: one league concentrates talent and money, but the PHF’s players and staff lost their jobs and contracts.
• Central control vs. local autonomy: single ownership allows fast, coordinated growth but concentrates power in one owner.
• Growth vs. stability: expansion creates jobs and reaches new fans but disrupts rosters and players’ lives.
• Equality vs. merit: salary floors protect most players, while top stars earn far less than their market value might suggest.

Strongest arguments

That the model is sustainable and fair: The CBA provides benefits women’s hockey players had not had before, including salary floors, housing and protection for pregnancy and parental leave.^[1][9] Single ownership lets the league expand and market itself without disputes among owners, and experts told Front Office Sports this has been an advantage.^[7] Attendance and sponsorship have grown, and outside investors have now joined.^[7][8] The 2026 expansion process gave players more say than a traditional draft.^[6]

That it is not yet fair enough: Nearly 100 players earned less than $50,000 in 2025-26, and pay growth is fixed at 3 percent a year until 2031.^[9] Players have no contractual share of new media revenue.^[10] The league was built in part by voiding PHF contracts, some worth far more than the new minimum.^[2][3] Reserve players earn far less and lack key benefits.^[10] The league’s finances are not public, so players and fans cannot judge how the gains are shared.^[8]

Applying the frameworks

Justice & fairness (Rawls)

Behind a veil of ignorance, not knowing whether you would be a star, a minimum-salary player, a reserve, a displaced PHF player or the owner, how would you design the league? You would likely accept salary floors and long-term security in an untested league. You would also want the least advantaged, such as reserves, minimum-salary players and displaced PHF players, to share in success if it came. Rawls’s difference principle suggests that a fair agreement should include mechanisms to raise the floor as revenue grows.

Utilitarian

A utilitarian weighs total well-being. A stable league provides jobs, inspires young players and entertains fans. Unification likely raised the quality of play and commercial value.^[2][7] Rapid expansion adds 104 roster spots, according to Front Office Sports, but also risks weaker teams, lower attendance in some markets and disruption for players.^[7] The best outcome depends on whether growth is sustainable. A league that folds would destroy far more value than slower growth would cost.

Care ethics

Care ethics focuses on relationships and vulnerability. Players in women’s hockey have long worked second jobs and lived with uncertainty. The CBA’s housing stipend and parental protections reflect attention to their actual lives.^[1] Underwood’s description of players unsure whether to renew their leases shows how expansion decisions land on real people.^[10] A caring league would give players notice, choices and support during disruption, including those who lost their jobs when the PHF closed.

Walk it through: the Simple Decision Model

1. Spot the issue: A new league built through consolidation and single ownership expands rapidly while player pay is locked in for eight years.
2. Gather facts: League revenue and losses, attendance by market, salary distribution, the CBA’s terms, the fate of displaced PHF players and investor terms.
3. Test options: Reopen the CBA early to add revenue sharing; raise the minimum and reserve salaries; slow expansion; move to multiple owners; publish financial information.
4. Check codes and law: The CBA, labor law on bargaining, and the league’s expansion protocols.
5. Decide and document: Set clear criteria for expansion and for sharing growth with players.
6. Communicate and follow up: Give players early notice of changes, publish attendance and financial indicators and review the CBA’s fit as the league grows.

What’s settled and what’s contested

• Settled: the PWHL’s backers bought the PHF in 2023 and voided its contracts; the CBA runs to July 31, 2031, with 3 percent annual increases in minimum and average salaries; the league is single-entity and expanded to 12 teams for 2026-27; 97 players earned less than $50,000 in 2025-26.^{[1][2][3][6][9]}
• Contested: whether the pace of expansion is sustainable; whether single ownership is good for players in the long run; whether the CBA should be reopened before 2031; whether the PHF’s players were treated fairly.

Why this case matters

Women’s sports leagues are growing quickly, and many face the same choices: one owner or many, long labor deals or short ones, cautious growth or rapid expansion. The PWHL shows that stability and fairness can pull in different directions. How the league shares its success with the players who built it will shape whether it becomes the lasting league women’s hockey has long sought.

See also: Owning the League: Unrivaled and Player Equity in Women’s Basketball.

Key terms

Distributive justice

Fairness in how scarce opportunities, resources, benefits and burdens are shared.

Stakeholders

Everyone with something at stake in a decision: athletes, coaches, parents, officials, fans, employees, sponsors, media, communities and regulators, including the less visible ones.

Commercialization

The process of turning sport into a product and a business enterprise, with profit pressures that can compete with principle.

Agency

An athlete’s ability to make decisions and act independently about their body, career and voice.

Trust

The public’s belief that what they are watching is real. Integrity failures are ultimately failures of trust.

Multiple points of view

Analyzing a dilemma from each stakeholder’s position in turn (athlete, parent, coach, administrator, official, bystander) before reaching your own reasoned view.

Definitions from the Ethics Cases glossary.

Discussion questions

1. The PWHL's backers bought the PHF and voided its contracts, some worth more than $150,000. Was that a fair price for creating one unified league?
2. The players' agreement guaranteed salary floors and benefits for eight years but locked pay rises at 3 percent. Was trading upside for security the right call for a new league?
3. What are the ethical advantages and risks of one owner controlling every team?
4. The league doubled from six to 12 teams in three seasons. How should it weigh growth against the disruption to players' lives?
5. If the league signs a major U.S. television deal before 2031, should players share in the revenue even though the agreement does not require it?

Sources

1. Collective Bargaining Agreement between the PWHL and the PWHLPA, August 1, 2023 through July 31, 2031 — Professional Women's Hockey League
2. PWHPA financers purchase PHF, unified women's hockey league planned — Sportsnet
3. All PHF Contracts Officially Voided July 10 — The Hockey News
4. Professional Women's Hockey League Expands to Seattle — PWHL
5. Professional Women's Hockey League Expands to Las Vegas and Hamilton, Ontario with 2026-27 Season Debut — PWHL
6. PWHL Announces 2026 Expansion Player Distribution Process — PWHL
7. Will the PWHL's Aggressive Expansion Succeed? — Front Office Sports
8. PWHL and outside capital: Structure, strategy, and what comes next — Gowling WLG
9. PWHL players' salary release shows Ottawa Charge forward Emily Clark highest earner — CBC Sports
10. New PWHL Players Association director aims to keep raising bar for players — CBC Sports