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NHL's partnership with women's hockey?
View Poll Results: Will the NHL accept this business plan?
A lot of the issues being touched on here were argued to death during the Olympics, so I'm going to avoid going there again.
But more specifically on this topic, I believe a lot of you are looking at this the wrong way. Yes, a women's league would be great for developing the sport, but more to the point, it's a valuable marketing tool for the NHL. As was mentioned earlier, the NHL is actually ahead of most other pro leagues in getting female fans (and I would suggest that this is linked to the NHL fans are on average more educated stat). If you look around at a hockey game, the solid majority of fans are male, and the vast majority of women in attendance are with men, either husbands, boyfriends, family members, or in groups with a bunch of friends. Something like this could catch the interest of more female fans, there's no reason that, in the long run, you could see a male-female divide approaching equality in terms of fans (including tv viewers, game attendance, merchandising, etc).
Nice job by those two organizations. Here are the intros to the press releases:
Quote:
Calgary, AB –The Calgary Flames and the Canadian Women’s Hockey League announced today a partnership introducing the Flames as a major supporter of Team Alberta in the newly formed Canadian Women’s Hockey League.
“We are proud of our new partnership with Team Alberta and to support women’s hockey through this sponsorship with the CWHL”, said Flames President & CEO Ken King. “It will be especially exciting to see some of the best players in the world compete in our own backyard, call Calgary home and to do so while wearing the traditional colors of the Flames. We are honored to welcome them to the Flames family and look forward to celebrating their success both on and off the ice.
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Tuesday they will partner with the Toronto Furies of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) to support women’s hockey and assist in providing elite athletes with a competitive, development-focused place to play. The Maple Leafs also announced that the Furies’ game against Team Alberta on Saturday, November 17 will be relocated to Air Canada Centre and will be free for all hockey fans to come out and celebrate our game.
The Maple Leafs will invest $30,000 annually for five years towards coaching costs and to help offset equipment, uniforms and travel expenses. The Furies will also receive support through the team website, at Leafs home games and on Leafs TV. Toronto Furies’ players and coaches will also be invited to participate in other Leafs Community & Sports Partnerships initiatives including Scotiabank Girls HockeyFest, Tim Hortons Toronto Maple Leafs Coaches’ Open House and Scotiabank Girls Only Learn to Skate Clinics.
If they really want to help grow the game they should treat these women's teams just like women's versions of the men's team.
i.e. the Premiership's ladies division. Frankly I don't know how well they do, or if the branding is consistent for all teams, but I know I have seen the "Lady Gunners", which is the nickname for the Arsenal women's team.
I think if, for example, the Toronto team just wore regular Maple Leaf jerseys, and were referred to as the "Lady Leafs", I bet they would get a lot more attention.
For reference, the WNBA is a single-entity league owned by the NBA (as a whole).
If by a single entity league you mean it is a part of the corporate structure of the NBA, you're right. However, each of the franchises are owned separately. In fact, the Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Seattle Storm and Tulsa Shock aren't even owned by NBA teams.
As far as the partnership with the CWHL, this is a great idea. However, a formal partnership between the NHL and CWHL would be better. It would be nice to see the NHL use their marketing arm to promote the CWHL.
One idea that would be interesting to do, if it were possible, is to do CWHL/NHL doubleheaders. Have the Toronto Furies follow a Leafs game at the ACC. I'm thinking if the Leafs promote it during the game a portion of the fans would stick around for game 2. Worse case, they could partner with Marlies games. For the Alberta Honeybadgers, if hooking up with a Flames game wouldn't work, they could hook up with the Hitmen. Have a Calgary Hitmen game first and the Honeybadgers second.
It would also be nice if the NHL Network broadcasted CWHL games and it was added to NHL broadcast agreements. The reason the WNBA has taken off as it has, is partly due to the NBA forcing their broadcast partners to take on the WNBA broadcasts. They really pushed the WNBA broadcasts with the "We got next" tag line.
On the otherhand without NHL backing, the WWHL/NWHL/CWHL has limped through about 12 or 13 seasons with barely a blip on the radar. If leagues like the NLL can attract a solid fanbase, I don't see why the CWHL could not? The problem with most of the women's teams is that they are outgrowths of minor hockey programs rather than professional sports franchises. The lack of funding is why these teams haven't grown. I would assume there are some successful businesswomen who'd be interested in owning these teams. If lacrosse teams can have backers with deep pockets, I'd think women's hockey could have some too.
Wow, they need to change that name to Toronto Fury.
Furies reminds me of furries, which they shouldn't aim for
Could be worse, you could be cheering for the Alberta Honeybadgers. I get feminized names, but come on someone could come up with a better, more marketable name than that. As for the Furies, I keep thinking snow storms as it reminds me of Flurries.
Now if they wanted to link with their partners, I'm not sure what you could easily do with the Flames and Maple Leafs. There are just no good names that aren't already taken that fit. The Alberta Heat would work, except the Heat are already the Flames AHL team. There is absolutely nothing good you could do with the Maple Leafs aside from the Lady Leafs which is bad too.
I don't know if things have changed friend of mine did some volunteer work with one of the "franchises".
Nobody gets paid anything, they sold under 100 tickets per game (outside of the clarkson cup), each team didn't have the same amount of games, they had players refusing to switch teams when traded, players telling the coach who was starting, the draft process is very convoluted.
They need some organizational changes pretty badly from what I saw.
If by a single entity league you mean it is a part of the corporate structure of the NBA, you're right. However, each of the franchises are owned separately. In fact, the Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Seattle Storm and Tulsa Shock aren't even owned by NBA teams.
At the risk of hijacking (my own thread ), you are absolutely correct Shootmaster.
The WNBA is an interesting animal, from a legal and economic standpoint. The NBA is a traditional non-single-entity structure. It went into the WNBA as a second business, own shares of the WNBA, and they claim single entity in that sense. However, the individual NBA teams, have the right to operate specific WNBA franchises and keep much of the profits from such operations. So from an economic standpoint, the WNBA operates much like a traditional non-single-entity structure. Quite the hybrid system, and partially why I believe they've managed to stay successfully open for business.
Could be worse, you could be cheering for the Alberta Honeybadgers. I get feminized names, but come on someone could come up with a better, more marketable name than that. As for the Furies, I keep thinking snow storms as it reminds me of Flurries.
Now if they wanted to link with their partners, I'm not sure what you could easily do with the Flames and Maple Leafs. There are just no good names that aren't already taken that fit. The Alberta Heat would work, except the Heat are already the Flames AHL team. There is absolutely nothing good you could do with the Maple Leafs aside from the Lady Leafs which is bad too.
Is it really the Alberta Honeybadgers?!
I must own that jersey. Honeybadger don't care. She don't give a s....
Promoting hockey at any level should interest the NHL, just because the players won't be potential NHL'rs shouldn't matter.
The excuse that NA women's hockey is too strong already doesn't hold merit. If the best Swedish, Finnish, or Swiss player
made these teams it would be much more motivational to young players than watching their national teams get beaten.
Think Borje Salming, Mats Naslund etc...
While I can see a women's pro hockey league happening I doubt it happens with the NHL's backing.
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Exhibit A as to how hockey doesn't matter on ESPN:
Last night an ESPN program was discussing how the Detroit Pistons needed a hero citing the heroes on the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions and no mention of the Detroit Red Wings. All this despite the Red Wings probably being the most succesful team in Detroit right now.
), you are absolutely correct Shootmaster. 
