The Premier Hockey Federation has been purchased by The Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises, multiple sources briefed on the situation told The Athletic on Thursday night.
The news comes after a long-running divide between the league and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, and fundamentally alters the landscape of professional women’s hockey. The path will now be clear for one North American league that can showcase the best players in the world.
Players from the PHF and the PWHPA were told the news in separate meetings on Thursday evening.
The PHF, previously known as the National Women’s Hockey League, was founded in 2015 and has been the only option for professional women’s hockey in North America after the Canadian Women’s Hockey League shut down in March 2019. The PWHPA was founded in May 2019 with a vision of building a sustainable league. In May 2022, the PWHPA entered into a formal business relationship with The Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises to explore the launch of a league.
PWHPA members were told on a call that they will be voting to ratify a first-of-its-kind CBA in the coming days, according to one player on that call.
This is a developing story.
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