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NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

pokechecker said:
Congratulations, admitting your problem is the first step to recovery. It’s too bad other lefties couldn’t realize their disassociation with reality.

BTW, why have you been so mad lately? Are you unemployed again?

The NHL owners probably want to sit on the sidelines until they see what happens with the lawsuit with the female soccer players and the potential lawsuit with WNBA players. I know I would.
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. The NBA lost money hand over fist in the beginning, now they want their return on investment, but all it takes is one activist judge and the NBA could be on the hook for millions.

Maybe one of you lefties could explain why it the responsibility of men to fund, organize and run a league for women. If they did, no doubt you'd be complaining the league hierarchy and coaches aren't at least 50% women. Some of you would argue they should all be women.
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The words are all there, but it just doesn't feel like you're giving it your all these days. It's bad enough to be a loathsome troll, but a loathsome troll who's just mailing it in has no purpose in life.
 
Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

Still Eeyore said:
I'm frustrated with the NHL. You can't say that you want to be involved, but that you "don’t believe in their models,” and that it's important to start with a clean slate, and stop right there. If you really want to be involved with those caveats, and you're the one with the money and clout, then you need to actually propose something and get involved. Dropping these bombs and then backing away is destructive to the whole process. It kneecaps the existing league(s) with uncertainty about their future if the NHL does step in, while also doing nothing to clear them out of the way if the only way forward is a brand new, NHL-backed league.

It suggests that Gary Bettman doesn't actually want the NHL to be involved with women's hockey at all, but also doesn't want the PR problem of being forthright. So he spins a line of bull**** to avoid damage to his own league while wrecking everyone else's. Then again, anyone who expects Bettman to be useful on any front is living in a dream world.
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The message of "shut down your only potential competitor to us and we'll take care of you" sounds like a huge con. If the NHL believes they have a business model that's better for everyone like they claim, they should start it and if it is indeed better they will get the best players and the NWHL won't be a problem. The players and NWHL should not just grant the NHL a monopoly on faith they'll do the right thing.
 
Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

Still Eeyore said:
Yes, this is the fundamental reason why anyone who expects Bettman to be useful on any front is living in a dream world.
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Of course a great leader will convince his followers to change course for the betterment of his company. I don't expect Bettman to do that...
 
Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

Scott_TG said:
The message of "shut down your only potential competitor to us and we'll take care of you" sounds like a huge con. If the NHL believes they have a business model that's better for everyone like they claim, they should start it and if it is indeed better they will get the best players and the NWHL won't be a problem. The players and NWHL should not just grant the NHL a monopoly on faith they'll do the right thing.
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Which is what the NBA did. Remember, there were two women pro BB leagues. The WNBA won out because they had the better model and resources backing it. The NBA was not afraid to jump into a fight, having the confidence they would win.
 
Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

it's probably never crossed the owners minds that putting 2,000 people in a 15,000 capacity stadium isn't likely to make money.

look at how their first attempts to drum up interest went
for example:
instead of people (who likely have never seen them compete) witnessing the skills contest thinking "man, she sure can fly, I'm going to have to check out one of their games"
instead it grew into a fiasco about whether she had won or not
 
pokechecker said:
it's probably never crossed the owners minds that putting 2,000 people in a 15,000 capacity stadium isn't likely to make money.

look at how their first attempts to drum up interest went
for example:
instead of people (who likely have never seen them compete) witnessing the skills contest thinking "man, she sure can fly, I'm going to have to check out one of their games"
instead it grew into a fiasco about whether she had won or not
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True. Bettman is probably hoping that the NWHL survives so he can keep saying that he doesn’t like the model. That is costing the NHL what, 50k, 100k? The alternative might be a lot more expensive for the NHL.
 
Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

The skepticism of the NHL is valid for sure, but the women don’t have great options and I can see why they want to find out if he’s bluffing or not.

With the CW ceasing on May 1, I expect there will be more news in the next couple weeks.

The CW ceasing is painful but also creates opportunity for positive change, for conversations about media support and corporate support and the need for a continued presence of both.

But it is very much on us women’s hockey players to take a step forward in the amount of support we give to women’s hockey ourselves. It’s time to build that culture, women’s/girls hockey players are almost 200,000 strong in North America, we should be supporting each other better than we are doing now. We are worth it, and will only benefit from supporting the game, to the extent we are able to do so. Women have always supported women, but it’s time to do more.
 
Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

https://www.gofundme.com/preserving-womens-hockey-history

https://www.32auctions.com/cwhl

CWHL is auctioning their assets. Some incredible memorabilia here. 2 trusted supporters of the CW have set up a go fund me and plan to buy some items and display them some way. Sharing in case any supporters or players here might wish to contribute.

I should add the goal of the auction is to pay creditors obviously, it’s required, the CW is not being malicious to their players here. My understanding is the players have received their base pay but not bonuses, and the hope is to pay the players bonuses if possible. What a crap situation.
 
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Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

I am a fairly new convert to women's pro hockey, having only seen a game in late-February in Newark. Aside from the obvious governance and financial issues the sport is battling through, one thing I was curious about is player movement/rights. I know that the players have other careers, with the national team members being paid by USA Hockey. I also saw that the NWHL had a draft this spring. So, do teams retain rights to a player for a certain number of years? Do players sign multi-year contracts? Or, are players on one year free agent contracts? Or, how does that all work?
 
HCSmooth said:
I am a fairly new convert to women's pro hockey, having only seen a game in late-February in Newark. Aside from the obvious governance and financial issues the sport is battling through, one thing I was curious about is player movement/rights. I know that the players have other careers, with the national team members being paid by USA Hockey. I also saw that the NWHL had a draft this spring. So, do teams retain rights to a player for a certain number of years? Do players sign multi-year contracts? Or, are players on one year free agent contracts? Or, how does that all work?
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In the NW the draft is more just to create marketing content. They don’t actually secure a player’s rights. The players sign one year contracts. Not sure if there are ever mid year trades but they sometimes sign players late in the year before playoffs.
 
Lindsay said:
In the NW the draft is more just to create marketing content. They don’t actually secure a player’s rights. The players sign one year contracts. Not sure if there are ever mid year trades but they sometimes sign players late in the year before playoffs.
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There are trades, just not common.
 
Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

Lindsay said:
In the NW the draft is more just to create marketing content. They don’t actually secure a player’s rights. The players sign one year contracts. Not sure if there are ever mid year trades but they sometimes sign players late in the year before playoffs.
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Not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I like the freedom of movement for players. Especially when hockey is their 2nd job. But, you would think it'd be easier to build a following in their local markets if they have roster stability. Especially among the Olympians, who are the most marketable athletes on the team.
 
Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

Yeah, that was a bold move by the women this morning. I saw the identical tweets from a lot of the high profile USWNT players. Fortunately, there probably aren't a lot of players who are in line to lose all that much financially as they probably don't get paid much from the NWHL. As long as this gets done right, it'll be worth it. I think there is more of a market available to them than has been realized. But, I don't know what the ceiling is. It definitely needs to be one league, preferably with NHL involvement. When the biggest stars of the game are scattered between 2 leagues, opportunities are missed. And even following some of the players on social media, I always feel like they could be more proactive in marketing their league as well.

In the one NWHL game I attended, I was pleasantly surprised by how full the stands were. I loved that the NWHL had a lot of games broadcast online somewhere. I do think the NHL has to be involved in some capacity, as they are already dabbling in it. But, I am excited to see where this can go. I really enjoyed the product I saw, even with its limited resources. BUt, you've got to start somewhere.
 
Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

arenalife said:
May not be a lot of players for the NWHL to field teams. Nice solidarity by all the women playing North American hockey.
Apparently all National team members form various nations playing in either NA league are part of this pledge, most if not all CWHL players, and others.
https://womenshockeylife.com/womens-hockey-players-unite-for-change/
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It's frustrating that this came out literally the day after I put down my non-refundable deposit for a Whitecaps season ticket next season, but that's not on the players.
 
Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

I really, really hope I turn out to be wrong but this is a terrible move by the players. Who are they thinking will be so dramatically impacted by their boycott that it will cause some entity to step forward with financing for insurance and higher salaries? If I'm the Gary Bettman I simply say, "Okay" and move on from women's hockey. Why would I want to spend time trying to convince the players to play in an NHL-sponsored league when the players early gambit is to refuse to play? Why would the NHL (or anyone) want that headache?

I love women's hockey and was thrilled with the Whitecaps success this season. I absolutely think one league is the way to go. But the sport simply hasn't yet reached critical mass in terms of a national paying audience and advertisers to make demands like this and having a business model cannot be completely ignored. Pro women's hockey is still in the early stages that require people and organizations working together, making sacrifices, putting egos aside to build to that critical mass.
 
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Re: NWHL Announcement Event On Tuesday In Saint Paul

Offsides Guy said:
I really, really hope I turn out to be wrong but this is a terrible move by the players. Who are they thinking will be so dramatically impacted by their boycott that it will cause some entity to step forward with financing for insurance and higher salaries? If I'm the Gary Bettman I simply say, "Okay" and move on from women's hockey. Why would I want to spend time trying to convince the players to play in an NHL-sponsored league when the players early gambit is to refuse to play? Why would the NHL (or anyone) want that headache?
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I think you're misreading the subtext of this move. Gary Bettman has said repeatedly that he doesn't believe in the NWHL's business model. What the players are saying here is that they agree with him. They're ready to move on from the NWHL and into a new league backed by the NHL as soon as the NHL is ready to step up.

As I indicated above, I'm skeptical about Bettman's (and by extension, the NHL owners') sincerity in claiming that they want to really support women's hockey. But the players are, at least, calling his bluff. If the NHL follows this up with silence or obfuscation, we'll know that they aren't serious.
 
Still Eeyore said:
I think you're misreading the subtext of this move. Gary Bettman has said repeatedly that he doesn't believe in the NWHL's business model. What the players are saying here is that they agree with him. They're ready to move on from the NWHL and into a new league backed by the NHL as soon as the NHL is ready to step up.

As I indicated above, I'm skeptical about Bettman's (and by extension, the NHL owners') sincerity in claiming that they want to really support women's hockey. But the players are, at least, calling his bluff. If the NHL follows this up with silence or obfuscation, we'll know that they aren't serious.
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What is the endgame? Have the NHL subsidize a losing business indefinitely? How much of an NHL subsidy will be enough? As much as I love and support women’s hockey- these players don’t “deserve” anything. If it’s not making money- that’s it. How much do they think they “deserve” to make? $50k? Why do they deserve that? I can’t say I “deserve” anything in my profession. If the NHL decides it’s in its interest to subside a league- that’s its decision. But I don’t think this was the right move. Now there is no league for the NHL to give any support to and it can sit back and continue to say women’s hockey can’t get its act together.
 
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