PWHL a great surge of female hockey interest

[LadyStanley]

Click to read more...

 

[Voight]

Its a good start, but they're still in the honeymoon phase.

 

[JMCx4]

Its a good start, but they're still in the honeymoon phase.

More like first date phase. The flirtation is still in high gear.

 

[masa2009]

Has there been any info about the TV ratings since that first game that was simulcast across several broadcasters? I don't think that I've seen a single number for a regular game.

 

[LadyStanley]

As they remove the YouTube live games afterwards, no way to confirm # watching, but everytime I go to wait for feed to start, I'm seeing 400+ "waiting" for stream to start.

 

[LadyStanley]

Leonsis very bullish on women's sports

 

[VaCaps Fan]

PWHL to Washington!

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Only good news. Hopefully Chicago gets a team sooner rather than later.

 

[Primary Assist]

Women's sports in general are having a huge moment, and it would be great to see hockey ride that wave. Hopefully they can establish a long term fanbase as well to stay on board if the tide does eventually fall

 

[LadyStanley]

Check out this Podcast: Does Anyone Want the East Wild Card + Don Waddell Joins the Show Does Anyone Want the East Wild Card + Don Waddell Joins the Show

Starting around 5 minutes in, talk about growth potential for Women's sports, including hockey and Leonsis' desire for PWHL team.

 

[LadyStanley]

Championship trophy

 

[LadyStanley]

Another record

 

[Ernie]

Mark Walter is starting to look incredibly smart right now. He's managed to catch the massive wave of interest in women's sports. An NBA expansion fee is over $50m. What would a PWHL expansion fee be worth? $20m?

Wasn't long ago that any mention of women's hockey would have a bunch of people here coming out of the woodwork to declare nobody would ever watch / it would never be successful. Haven't seen any of them in a while..

 

[LadyStanley]

Example with Biden's statement when championship WNBA team visits White House

 

[LPHabsFan]

Here's a question for those in the know who have followed this that I've wanted answered for a while.

Why now?

This isn't the first professional women's hockey league. There have been a bunch over the years.

So what is different about this one? Why is this one experiencing the success that the others didn't?

Is it really a case of they finally got an investor willing to put in the money to promote it properly?

 

[jigglysquishy]

Here's a question for those in the know who have followed this that I've wanted answered for a while.

Why now?

This isn't the first professional women's hockey league. There have been a bunch over the years.

So what is different about this one? Why is this one experiencing the success that the others didn't?

Is it really a case of they finally got an investor willing to put in the money to promote it properly?

A major reason is that there's no competitor league.

Since 2004 there's always been two major women's leagues. The exception being ~2013-2016 after the WWHL diminished and before the new NWHL.

We almost had it after the CWHL collapsed, but it got tied up with COVID and the PWHPA.

 

[JMCx4]

... We almost had it after the CWHL collapsed, but it got tied up with COVID and the PWHPA.

So the REAL answer to @LPHabsFan 's question is: "The PWPHA finally got their way." I'll refrain from implicating them in the whole COVID thing.

 

[PurpleMouse]

Mark Walter is starting to look incredibly smart right now. He's managed to catch the massive wave of interest in women's sports. An NBA expansion fee is over $50m. What would a PWHL expansion fee be worth? $20m?

PWHL expansion will be an interesting story to watch because they have to be careful. There is probably a big demand but I'd think one of the reasons the league has had success is that by keeping it six teams, it keeps the quality of play fairly close to the standard of the Canada/USA games which we knew people would happily watch. A 12 team PWHL, for example, in 2025 wouldn't be near the same level.