LOS ANGELES — Mark Walter, chairman and controlling owner of the Dodgers, and his wife Kimbra will be the main financial backers of a women's professional hockey league that plans to begin operating in January.
Tennis legend and women's rights advocate Billie Jean King and her wife, Ilana Kloss, who are minority owners of the Dodgers, will be board members of the new league, the league announced Friday in a news release. Dodgers President Stan Kasten also will be a member of the board.
"What we were after was the best league ever built for the finest women's hockey players in the world to play in," he said in a phone conversation. "Put together with the right ownership, right resources, right support and with the right leaders, Mark and Billie Jean, I don't think any league could do better than that."
The formation of a single league would end a rift among groups that have had differing visions for the growth of women's professional hockey. The Walter-led group acquired the assets of the Premier Hockey Federation and, according to a source with knowledge of the process but unauthorized to speak publicly, is awaiting approval of a collective bargaining agreement negotiated with members of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association. Voting on that eight-year CBA and a league constitution is scheduled to end Sunday.
Kasten said the still-unnamed league has the support of the NHL, a key step forward for women's hockey. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had stayed on the sidelines while competing groups battled to be the primary professional league for women, but the new league will have the NHL's powerful backing. Kasten said he has known Bettman for more than 40 years, since he was general manager of the Atlanta Hawks and Bettman was a lawyer for the NBA.
"It was just exciting for me to call him Tuesday to tell him what we had done," said Kasten, who was president of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers and remains an avid hockey fan.
"I didn't talk to him the whole time. Because people had promised him over the years, 'This is what I want to do, this is what I'm going to do, this is what I plan to do.' I didn't want to tell him until it was something we had done. It was a real proud moment to call him to be able to tell him what we had done and it could not have been better and more supportive."
That was apparent in the statement the league issued Friday.
"The National Hockey League congratulates the Professional Women's Hockey Players' Association and the Premier Hockey Federation on their agreement," the statement said. "We already have initiated discussions with representatives of this unified group regarding how we can work together to continue to grow the women's game."
The source said the new league will launch with six teams based in the Northeast, three in Canada and three in the United States. Pittsburgh, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and New York are among the U.S.-based candidates, with Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and the Ontario city of London among the likely Canadian cities. The proximity of the teams was designed to minimize travel costs.
Salaries would be tiered, with A-level players earning $80,000 per year, B-level players earning $55,000, and C-level players earning $35,000. Each team would have extra players at lower salaries. A proposed benefits package would include a 401(k) plan, pregnancy protection, and money from licensing agreements. Venues would seat at least 4,000.
Kasten wouldn't confirm those details and said the name of the league, the names and locations of the teams, their venues, logos, and other information will be disclosed in the next 30 to 60 days.
"We have a lot of plans. But now that we've put all the pieces in place we're going to get to work," he said.
Kasten said Walter — who also has ownership stakes in the Lakers, the WNBA Sparks and in the English Premier League team Chelsea through his Dodgers ownership partner Todd Boehly — began discussions more than a year ago with King and players in the PWHPA.
"When we really thought it through, Mark thought the best thing was to make it real — have them unionized, get a collective bargaining agreement, so that whatever we built was in place and would be there for the long haul," Kasten said.
"Around November, he came to me and asked me to make all this happen, so I said I would. And so we got to work on not just a collective bargaining agreement, but along the way, getting to know these players, understanding how passionate they were about hockey, how determined they were to hold out for the rights that they had long deserved. And that's what getting the collective bargaining agreement was all about.
"Somewhere in the middle of the process Mark also had the feeling that, 'You know, if we could find a way to become one league that would have all the best players in the world and be the only league that could do that, that would really make this a very special endeavor.' And so we set out to do that. That all came together this week."
Long Beach native King could not be reached for comment.
"This is an extraordinary opportunity to advance women's sports," she said in the news release. "I have no doubt that this league can capture the imagination of fans and a new generation of players. I want to thank Mark and Kimbra Walter for their vision and commitment to investing in women's sports."
