The PWHL got a lot right in year one, most of it. They put together a season, broadcasting, rosters, venues, and built a fan base in weeks and months, not years. It was an impressive feat for the start up league that continued to showcase the immense market for women's professional sport in North America.
Related: 5 Things The PWHL Got Right In Year One
But the work continues, and the league knows that. They continue to face timelines that many corporations would see as unrealistic, and along the way, it's meant the league has needed to cut some corners, and had their share of missteps. The good news is, most of those missteps have been behind the scenes with little to no impact on fans, at least not at first glance.
The league is still sprinting to meet deadlines, and there's a lot to be done over next season and beyond. Here are a few of the most pressing issues the PWHL will need to find ways to address, soon.
1. Team Names and Logos
Currently, there remains only six names trademarked by the PWHL. They are Boston Wicked, Montreal Echo, Toronto Torch, Ottawa Alert, Minnesota Superior, and New York Sound. After months away from the names, many fans remain adamantly against these names, while time may have softened the visceral response of others. The fact remains, there are no team names yet for the league, and it's an item many fans want. With jersey and merchandise sales strong on the generic items in year one, the opportunity for a massive boost in revenue for the league from branded team wear looks to be huge. There are now hundreds of mock logos and names floating around that the league could pull from and gauge response as the NHL's Seattle Kraken did. It's hard to believe the league would risk more criticism heading into another season without this done.
2. Player Compensation
To the PWHL's defence, they negotiated an investment friendly contract that will keep their labor costs low and controlled for a startling eight years. There's a reason that collective bargaining agreements don't often come before a league is founded. The primary reason is that until the league is founded, there is no collective of players to have a unified voice. In this circumstance, of the players who have appeared in a game this season, only 36.7% of those athletes came from the PWHPA last year, meaning the CBA was voted on by roughly a third of the league. It also means that 40 former players, who never stepped foot in the league, many of whom never intended to play in the league, had votes in defining the future of the sport, while the bulk of players who would be competing in the league had no say. The result is a small group of well paid players, and many who will scrape by and continue to leave the league for other opportunities. The PWHLPA and PWHPA must now, retroactively find ways to rectify this. The PWHL has said openly they will not re-open the financial terms, which run through 2031, but perhaps there are aspects related to revenue where compromise could occur. They did however offer more guaranteed contracts this offseason , and set minimum salaries for players picked in the first three rounds. They were positive steps. The fact that the CBA does not include a revenue share for athletes, or a percentage on broadcasting rights, was a massive miss for the players.
3. Home Venues
The league has stated they intend to do more neutral site games next season, and this year it proved as an incredible opportunity to sell tickets and merchandise, and gain national and regional media attention for the league. It's a tactic the league stated they plan to lean into and continue to utilize next year, with even more neutral site games coming. That said, the PWHL will also now see the missed opportunities they had based on some current venues. If you'd told the PWHL prior to the season they'd sell out every game in Toronto weeks before the season, the thrill would have been palpable. Looking back, the league must still be thrilled with that, but now must also acknowledge the revenue that could have been made by finding more appropriate venues for some teams. In Toronto, Coca-Cola Coliseum seems like the logical future home after the team moved there in playoffs and continued to sell out. New York had more success in...New Jersey. The league wisely pulled themselves from Bridgeport, Connecticut, which was a disastrous experiment. Still if you want to tap into one of the biggest markets in the world, the league needs to find ways to be in the market. The league's only visit to Manhattan was to skate outdoors and announce their captain, and other public appearances, but they did not play a game in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Lowell drew better than expected for Boston, but similarly, the league must see they gave up fans by not being in Boston, and Montreal's stint at the Verdun Auditorium is likely done as a primary venue as well given the attendance swells the team saw when they played at Place Bell and Bell Centre. More consistent and appropriate venues where the league can begin to install branding are a must.
Related: Bye Bye Bridgeport, PWHL New York Moves Games
4. Cleaning Up The Mess
There was a mess. And then it got messier. The issues that happened in PWHL Minnesota in the ousting of general manager Natalie Darwitz only days after Minnesota won the Walter Cup were baffling. It came out that head coach Ken Klee and captain Kendall Coyne Schofield led a mutiny against Darwitz, and that the players had been making the decisions in Minnesota for some time. New York was able to head off a similar situation, although players attempted a mutiny there earlier in the season to oust Howie Draper as well. New York made moves this offseason to lock up their staff that no one questioned. No matter how the league handles Minnesota, there will be questions and skepticism, and the team and league lost the trust of many. That was added to on draft day with the controversial pick of Britta Curl. Toronto then faced questions following a crossover in timing between Hockey Canada and free agency that many felt crossed a line. To face what the league did only days after the pinnacle moment in their season was hard. Time heals most wounds, but the league must find ways to rid itself of the old way things have been done, and move into a fully professional internal governance. The league wasn't prepared for fans to scrutinize, and that was a misstep. Perhaps the league needed a commissioner after all?
Related: Power and Influence: What we continue to learn about Natalie Darwitz's dismissal
5. Officiating
It was inconsistent, there were growing pains, and just as it seemed the league had hit a stride for what was a call and what wasn't, the playoffs rolled around and it seemingly changed again. The growing pains from early on will likely dwindle as officials become more comfortable with the modified checking rules, but in the playoffs there remained no clear answer for what was and what wasn't a bodycheck or even a penalty. And there were certainly controversial calls that decided games. Continuing to fine tune guidelines and exemplars for officials and centralizing some of the game changing reviews will help. This showed much improvement, and year two certainly will as well.
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