The Mark Walters Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises have purchased the Premier Hockey Federation, therefore creating a new women’s league, Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reported on Thursday.
Both groups financed the PHWPA, the union supporting women’s hockey, making this a step towards creating a unified women’s hockey league.
Marek also reports that the remaining contracts of PHF players have been voided.
The PWHPA and PHF had been at odds over the past several years amidst several attempts to establish a singular league, with past talks to collaborate frequently fizzling out. In particular, since at least April 2022, the PWHPA had been angling to form it’s own league, with the PWHPA beginning the collective bargaining process earlier this year.
The PHF, established in 2015 as the NWHL, had also been experiencing growth in recent years, with a recent expansion into Canada in 2020 with the Toronto Six, then later the Montreal Force in 2022.
