Puck drop for season two is just a handful of sleeps away in the PWHL and like a growing toddler, the league is changing almost daily. Here’s a look at some of the changes that were addressed Tuesday by Jayna Hefford, senior vice president of hockey operations for the league and Amy Scheer, Senior Vice President of Business Operations as they conducted an on-line open interview with a handful of the league’s media members.
ON THE QUESTION OF THE LEAGUES NEW BROADCAST AGREEMENTS
In Canada, the PWHL has for the first time received media rights from a trio of partners – TSN, CBC and Amazon Prime. What that means for the consumer is the end of the YouTube option in Canada though YouTube will still be available in the U.S. and Internationally to access games.
“We have three wonderful partners (in Canada) with TSN, Amazon Prime and CBC,” Scheer said. “And the nature of the relationship with those parties has changed this year in that yes, we are receiving media rights and as part of that streaming does become exclusive. Listen, it’s a really hard decision to make because accessibility is really important for us, but you hope on the flipside that fans understand this is really a very important next step for the sustainability and growth of our league. So, I think as you grow, there are tradeoffs you have to make and tough decisions you have to make and this was certainly one of them.”
Because the league has yet to land a national media partner or partners in the U.S. the option to stream games in the U.S. over YouTube remains though that too should be coming to an end perhaps as early as Year 3.
“I think there are some national partners (in the U.S.) that would be willing to carry our games today,” Scheer said. “And I think that are some national partners that feel we need to grow beyond the current markets we are in.
“Every day we evaluate what the business proposition is and what the best way to move forward is. We make our decisions wholistically on the health and growth of the league. Media rights and broadcast deals are one part of that.”
WHERE DOES EXPANSION STAND?
Earlier this summer, Scheer attended the ESPN Women’s Summit and let it be known the league was taking interest from markets across North American interested in filling up to two expansion spots as soon as next season. Scheer expanded on that yesterday.
“Listen, we may add two teams, we may add zero,” Scheer said. “But I think the goal is to expand at a rate in which the talent of hockey can support. I don’t think we will go from six teams to 12 teams in a year. The most important thing is to never compromise the quality of the play on the ice because it is great. That is really listening to Jayna and her direction of what we are capable of expanding to and when. But listen, we have criteria. We have a model and we will evaluate the criteria as we have discussions and get the information back from the interested markets.
“We’ll see what the cadence is? Today we are looking at up to two teams. I don’t know what tomorrow holds.”
Scheer said they already have interest from at least 25 markets, but are not quite ready to identify them just yet.
“We have not really publicly disclosed who the cities are that we have spoken to,” Scheer said. “If Quebec City (Scheer was asked specifically about the provincial capital) wants to have that conversation, they are more than welcome to, but from a league standpoint, we are speaking with multiple cities across both countries and I think at this point would like to keep those conversations private and comment on them when the time is appropriate.”
YOU RECENTLY CHANGED THE WORDING IN THE RULE BOOK CONCERNING BODY CONTACT IN THE LEAGUE. DID ANYTHING SUBSTANTIALLY CHANGE?
“I don’t think substantially, but where you will notice a bit of a wording difference is around the body checking statement in the rulebook,” Hefford said. “We just really wanted to try and zero in and create as much clarity for players, officials and fans as possible. What we really looked at and didn’t like was the big, open ice, opposite direction contact. Players skating directly at each other, not playing the puck and creating that contact. Those are the hits that won’t be in the game. But the plays where you are playing the puck first, you are moving in similar directions and contact happens, that is the type of contact you will see in our game.”
ANY CHANCE INCOMING EXPANSION TEAMS WOULD BE LOCALLY OWNED?
“As of today, we will remain single entity,” Scheer said meaning the Walter Group which owns and operates all six teams would continue to do so. “I don’t think the Walter Group and our board would close the door on local ownership but I don’t know what that timeline would be. For the foreseeable future it will remain single entity.”
HOW FAR ALONG IS THE PWHL ON A DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE TO SERVE THOSE PLAYERS THAT DON’T CRACK THE 23-PLAYER ROSTER OR THE THREE-PLAYER RESERVIE PER TEAM?
“It’s something that is on minds constantly,” Hefford said. “How will we continue to develop this top-end talent. The reality is building a league is hard enough. Building a second league or a minor league system is something just as large as we’ve just done. It’s on our radar at some point to hopefully have something along those lines, but in the near term we have to look at what other opportunities might exist for players to continue to play and develop.
“We do believe those reserve players within our league have a really great opportunity to train with the best players in the world every day and so continue to develop at that 26 player per team number. But each year that pool gets bigger and bigger so it’s something we are looking at closely and trying to figure out how we can navigate it in the short term, but in a perfect world long term we would have a development system in place.”
CAN YOU PROVIDE ANY MORE TRANSPARENCY ON THE NATALIE DARWITZ FIRING IN MINNESOTA?
(Darwitz was ousted, under some bizarre circumstances, from her GM job after building the roster that won the first ever Walter Cup).
“I mean, given that was a personnel matter and out of respect for the players and staff, we are not going to share any more details,” Hefford said. “We are really confident with the staff and players in place now and looking forward to them having to raise the (championship) banner in a few days and enter the season as defending champions.”
IS THE PLAN TO KEEP EQUAL BALANCE OF AMERICAN AND CANADIAN FRANCHISES IN THE LEAGUE? (currently three and three).
“We are not putting guardrails on our decision making,” Scheer said. “We want to be open to every eventuality that could play out so trying not to be close minded and stay as open minded as possible,” Scheer said.
HOW MUCH WEIGHT WILL ATTENDANCE CARRY WHEN IT COMES TO EVALUATING SUCCESS OF NEUTRAL SITE HOSTS LOOKING TO BECOME AN EXPANSION OPTION? (DUBBED THE TAKEOVER TOUR, PWHL WILL PLAY NEUTRAL SITE GAMES THIS SEASON IN BUFFALO, DENVER, DETROIT, RALEIGH, St. LOUIS, SEATTLE, QUEBEC CITY, VANCOUVER, AND EDMONTON)
“Of course, attendance will certainly be a part of it,” Scheer said. “I think we are looking at the overall market and media size, we are looking at what is the economic opportunity there, that’s not just attendance in an arena but also partnerships. What is the community involvement there? What does youth hockey look like there? So, we’ve got this wonderful matrix that we have put together with a weighting scale that puts about 7-10 factors into consideration and when we get the (results back) we will start to do this weighing and scaling and determine where we think would be best. But certainly, attendance is one of them.”
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