THIS IS A NECESSARY HOCKEY FIGHT
A SUSTAINABLE WOMEN’S LEAGUE WOULD PROVIDE HOME FOR CURRENT STARS AND HOPE FOR FUTURE ONES
Growing up, Olympic gold medalist Kendall Coyne Schofield aspired to play for the Blackhawks. Then, she witnessed the U.S. women’s national team win gold at its first Olympic Games in 1998. That’s when Coyne Schofield realized she wanted to represent the U.S. on the grand stage. But as she got older, she quickly realized there weren’t a lot of opportunities for female hockey players.
After breaking barriers as the first woman to compete at the NHL All-Star skills competition last season, Coyne Schofield joined the Sharks’ broadcast team as a color analyst for this season.
Don’t get her wrong: She loves calling games. But it’s also a tough pill to swallow knowing that she doesn’t have the same opportunity as her male counterparts to make a living playing hockey.
“You love this game, but this game doesn’t love you,” Coyne Schofield said. And she’s not the only one who feels this way.
When Hilary Knight graduated from Wisconsin, the eight-time world champion thought the pathway to being a professional hockey would be similar to the men.
“I just thought we’d sign big contracts and we’d play pro hockey,” said Knight, who grew up in Lake Forest. “And then I got out there and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this couldn’t be further from the truth.’ ”
Most female professional hockey players have to take a second job to make ends meet. They also have to provide some of their own equipment, and the amenities in leagues like the National Women’s Hockey League are practically nonexistent.
“There’s no pregame meals, no postgame meals,” said Coyne Schofield, a Palos Park native who played for the Minnesota Whitecaps last season. “If you wanted a pregame meal, you’d have to Uber to one if you were on the road. Being in buildings that you’re traveling to and there’s no showers available to get on the plane after, it’s a lot.
“My salary was $7,000 and people were always concerned, ‘Why don’t you move to Minnesota?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m offended, $7,000 is basically a donation and you want me to move [and] uproot my life to Minnesota for that? I’m not doing it, I’m not doing it.’ ”
And life in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League wasn’t much better.
“Make no mistake about it, it wasn’t a professional league,” said Knight, who made roughly $25,000 in the CWHL last season.
After the CWHL folded this spring, more than 200 of the world’s best female players decided enough was enough. They banded together and formed the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association with the goal of creating an economically viable league.
“We’re really looking for that sustainable model and something that’s going to take this sport to the next level,” Knight said. “So we leave this sport better than how we found it when we entered it.”
Knowing visibility is one of the biggest problems women’s sports face, more than 35 Olympians are traveling North America as part of the Dream Gap Tour, which made its final stop of 2019 at Fifth Third Arena on Oct. 18-20.
All three events received ample support.
In Chicago, they sold 1,600 tickets for the two-day spectacle.
“It shows that the interest for women’s hockey is there and we need to build a platform to showcase it day in and day out,” Coyne Schofield said.
Members of the PWHPA know they can’t fight alone. That’s why they recruited Billie Jean King Enterprises, which has been vital to the success of the tour by providing support in many forms, including sponsorships.
“My hope and my prayer is that someday we’ll have that vehicle of opportunity, a league, where we’ll have hundreds of women playing professional hockey,” King said. “And so little girls and boys, but little girls, in particular, have to see it to be it, and they’ll actually see the end product, where they can go like the boys do now with the NHL.”
King, a longtime advocate for gender equality, personally relates to the women’s hockey players’ fight for opportunities. She faced a similar battle nearly five decades ago when King and eight other female tennis players signed $1 contracts with World Tennis publisher, Gladys Heldman to create the Virginia Slims Circuit, which ultimately led to the formation of the Women’s Tennis Association.
“These three things totally pertain to the hockey association, and that is, any girl born in this world, if she’s good enough, will have a place to compete,” King said. “Number two, she should be appreciated for her accomplishments and not only her looks, and number three, the most important one, to be able to make a living.”
King and the PWHPA are putting pressure on the NHL to step in and help in a similar capacity to how the NBA helped elevate the WNBA.
The NHLPA has already voiced its support of the women’s union.
King said she has spoken to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and he’s “focused” on helping develop a sustainable women’s league. And King knows better than anyone what it actually takes to make that happen.
“Even if it comes to fruition, it’s going to be a long hard road,” she said. “It’s not going to be easy. And this generation will have a tough part of it.” ✶
“My hope and my prayer is that someday we’ll have that vehicle of opportunity, a league, where we’ll have hundreds of women playing professional hockey.”
Billie Jean King