Report: PWHPA, Billie Jean King Enterprises exploring new women's hockey league

The Professional Women's Hockey Players Association is seemingly one step closer to forming a new league for women's players.

The organization reportedly entered a formal relationship with Billie Jean King Enterprises and the Mark Walter Group to explore the formation of a financially stable, elite league, according to The Athletic's Hailey Salvian.

The PWHPA formed in 2019 following the cessation of the Canadian Women's Hockey League, which collapsed due to an "economically unsustainable" business model. Without the CWHL, the Premier Hockey Federation (formerly the National Women's Hockey League) was the only professional women's league left in North America.

Rather than join the NWHL, many top players opted to form the PWHPA to help further the mission of "a single, viable professional women's ice hockey league in North America that showcases the greatest product of women's professional ice hockey in the world."

The PWHPA reportedly broke off any further discussions about collaborating with the PHF in April, per Salvian.

Though details of a new league have yet to be ironed out, it reportedly aims to include six teams, 23-player rosters with three coaches each, a minimum salary of $35,000, and a league-average salary of $55,000, according to Sportsnet's Jeff Marek.

Tennis legend Billie Jean King is famous for her work and advocation for women's equal rights in sports, while Mark Walter has been an owner of the MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers since 2012.

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