PWHL plans further expansion, and eyes 2026 Olympics to broaden reach in Europe, Kasten tells AP
As impressive as the PWHL's growth has been less than two years since its launch, with the league blowing past initial attendance and revenue projections, and already into its first phase of expansion, Stan Kasten says you've seen nothing yet.
The league's advisory board member laid out an ambitious vision of the PWHL's future during a phone interview with The Associated Press on Thursday.
Kasten foresees further expansion — beyond the recent additions of Vancouver and Seattle to grow the PWHL to eight teams — within the next few years; the league capitalizing on the 2026 Milan Winter Games to broaden its reach internationally; and the prospect of turning a profit by 2031, when the league's current CBA with its players expires.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
'By every measure, we're ahead of where we thought we would be. And we never thought we were going to be this niche six-team league in the northeast of North America,' Kasten said.
'Our manifest destiny is a lot more than six. It's a lot more than eight. I don't know how many,' he added. 'My point is, we're going to be a league like every other real major league, and that's our goal. ... We're going to be spread — our footprint will be across this continent and hopefully others as well.'
Expansion plans
Without making a firm commitment, Kasten said there was enough interest from major markets that missed out on expansion this year to add even more teams by 2026-27. He said the league will have a better timeline on the next expansion phase based on how smoothly Vancouver and Seattle are incorporated.
'I'll know by midseason what I think we should do and we'll go from there,' he said. 'I don't know if it's the year after or the year after that, but I think it'll be sooner than most people ever imagined.'
Eye on Europe
What's clearer is the league turning its focus toward Europe to coincide with the Olympics, and a women's hockey tournament predominantly featuring PWHL talent.
Kasten said there have been discussions about playing exhibition games in Europe within the next two years, as well as building ties with European leagues for developmental purposes and even of one day establishing teams there.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
'Europe is a big part of our future,' Kasten said.
'I think our presence on the international stage next year is going to be really well-timed, a propitious step for us,' he added. 'We think the period before the Olympics, during the Olympics and after the Olympics are very important to the next stage of our development.'
Kasten spoke from Ottawa where he attended Game 2 of the best-of-five Walter Cup Finals series, which is tied at 1 after defending champion Minnesota's 2-1 overtime win.
Attendance jumps
The PWHL is closing its second season, which featured jumps in attendance, revenues, sponsorships and goal scoring — from 4.8 to 5.02 per outing — over the inaugural season.
Average attendance rose from 5,448 per contest last year to 7,260 due in part to nine neutral site games drawing a combined 123,601 fans.
Attendance in Toronto and Montreal jumped with both teams playing in larger venues, though Minnesota and Ottawa had slight drops in average turnout when not including their designated 'home' neutral site games.
Turnout continues to lag in New York where the Sirens finished last in the standings for a second straight year while averaging a league-low 2,764 fans per game — up from 2,496 last year — at the NHL Devils home, the Prudential Center.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Without providing exact figures, executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer said the league's sponsorships grew by 50% and merchandise sales doubled — helped by the PWHL unveiling logos and nicknames for its six teams this season.
Kasten doesn't discount needs the PWHL has to address, noting the league intends to increase promotions and improve venues in various markets. Another concern is how fanbases will respond to each of the six existing teams standing to lose four players each as part of the expansion process next month.
Hopeful future
For Kasten, that doesn't take away what the league has accomplished in 23 months since being launched by his boss, Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and wife Kimbra, and tennis icon Billie Jean King. As the PWHL's financial backer, Walter committed hundreds of millions of dollars as part of a long-term vision to bring together the world's top women players in one league.
Kasten said the initial projection for attendance was 1,000 per game for a league that in March surpassed the 1 million mark, including playoffs.
'I see us on a very distinct upward track able to look towards seasons where we can start to turn the corner and be in the black,' Kasten said, looking ahead to 2031.
'We're far away from that now and that's OK. We projected that,' he added. 'But when that happens, we can also think about expanding the schedule. And with an expanded schedule in an environment where you're finally making money, well, now there's more money for more people.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
'And so I hope by then we're at that point. That would thrill me.'
___
AP Women's Hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Canada's Victoria Hayward, Athletes Unlimited aim for sustainable pro softball ahead of Olympic return
Canadian softball veteran Victoria Hayward has competed through four Olympic cycles — yet she's only played in one. And so as softball returns for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the 33-year-old Toronto native is still taking a big-picture view. The sport has only been on the Olympic program once since 2008, when the Tokyo Olympics included it for the 2020 Games, where Hayward competed. "I think the mission to grow our sport has to be bigger than just doing it for that world stage," said Hayward, who joined the national team as a 16-year-old in 2009 but had to watch the 2012, 2016 and 2024 Olympics from afar. Hayward's mission continues Saturday when she will suit up for opening day of the newest Athletes Unlimited Softball League season. The competition first began in 2020 with a fantasy-style, athlete-centred format — now, it's back for its first go-round as a more traditional, team-focused pro league. "Our goal is to have women be professional softball players and that requires more games, that requires that traditional model and so we're creeping closer and closer toward that and that's something we're definitely really proud of as a league," Hayward said. Hayward was part of the original group of players who competed at a field in Rosemont, Ill., in 2020 in an attempt to drum up interest for their sport ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Since its inception, Athletes Unlimited has expanded to include volleyball and basketball, with both adopting the player-first scoring format. Now, softball has become the first to branch out into the more traditional model, featuring four teams playing 24 games each across 10 cities. Hayward was drafted to a team called the Talons. Former Miami Marlins general manager and longtime MLB executive Kim Ng came aboard as commissioner in April, and one month later MLB announced a strategic partnership with the league. "It's really a testament to all of the work that every generation of professional softball players has done to increase visibility, to really just put our sport on the map in a way that MLB recognizes its value, recognizes its potential and wants to be a part of it," Hayward, who spent three years from 2020 to 2022 on the AU board, said. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the league was "really excited" about the investment. "We thought rather than starting on our own and competing, that finding a place where we could invest and grow a business was a better opportunity for us," Manfred said. For Hayward, the partnership represents a massive step toward creating that sustainable pro environment like basketball players have in the WNBA, soccer players have in the NWSL and NSL, and hockey players have in the PWHL. She said AU has received advice from some the WNBA players who spend their off-season in the league. "Once you kind of receive that [MLB] stamp of approval things can really take off, and I think that's really exciting," Hayward said. Hayward added that the league had hoped to start in 2020 with a traditional model, but it was forced to pivot due to various pandemic restrictions. For this season, AU will maintain some of its old model in the form of a season-ending All-Star Cup, a month-long competition in August following the regular season. "To see it come full circle and to have the opportunity to have a team, to be able to create new beginnings and just lay the foundation for it to be built upon is really awesome," Hayward said. Meanwhile, the timing of the MLB investment lands at the beginning of a quadrennial, setting up the sport to create momentum ahead of its return to the Olympics in three years — and perhaps convince Brisbane 2032 organizers that is should be included there, too. Additionally, AU should help athletes stay sharp competitively in advance of that competition, Hayward said. "The athletes within this league are the absolute best of the best and now with a model that we're going to play a lot more games and we're going to be exposed to that high-level competition day in and day out and just be around the best softball players in the world, as a competitor training to be in that world stage at the Olympics, that's all you can ask for," Hayward said. As for Team Canada, Hayward is the lone Canuck registered for this season of Athletes Unlimited. She said she hopes more Canadians will join in future years. But Hayward, who hasn't competed on the national team since 2022, said she doesn't anticipate being part of the Olympic roster. "I'll never say never. A lot can change. As of right now, I do not plan on being part of the national team at that time, but stranger things have happened than for somebody to come out of retirement to compete at the Olympic games," she said. "I would love to be involved in some capacity." She credited former player and current national team head coach Kaleigh Rafter for bridging the gap toward the next generation of Canadian softball players that will strive to build upon Hayward and company's Tokyo bronze medal. "Most people only want to be in when the Olympics are in and I'm really proud of our country for wanting to be consistent and continue to grow and I think then when you get into a cycle when the Olympics is back, I think there's a renewed sense of purpose," Hayward said.
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Why an increase in mortgage-free young people is a worrisome sign
'Generation Z is unprecedentedly rich.' That was the bold headline of a recent Economist article, drawing on international data showing many young adults today financially outpace boomers when they were the same age. Since I often report the opposite for younger Canadians, the claim gave me pause. So, I revisited national data on income, unemployment and home ownership for those aged 20 to 34. Canada tells a different story from the Economist headline, except for one notable trend: home ownership among young adults surged during the pandemic. This raises a deeper concern. Canada may be drifting from a meritocracy (albeit an imperfect, and often tilted toward white men, meritocracy) toward a landed aristocracy, where access to secure housing increasingly depends on being born into the right family. The concern doesn't show up in income data. In 1976, when most boomers were young adults, the median full-time, full-year earnings for 20- to 24-year-olds was $43,800 in today's dollars, according to Statistics Canada. The contemporary figure is slightly lower at $41,400. For 25- to 34-year-olds, median earnings dipped from $64,400 in 1976 to $62,500 today. But things shift when we turn to housing. I combined data from Statistics Canada's surveys of consumer finance and financial security, along with five-year mortgage interest rates with average price data from the Canadian Real Estate Association. The result is telling. In 1977, 41 per cent of Canadians under 35 owned a home. The average house cost $253,000 (in today's dollars), it took five years of full-time work to save a 20-per-cent down payment and mortgage rates averaged 10.75 per cent. By 2019, home ownership for young Canadians had dropped to 36 per cent. The average home (now more often a condo) cost $598,000, and it took 13 years to save the down payment. Lower interest rates around 4.6 per cent made carrying a larger mortgage more manageable. Then came the pandemic. As emergency-level interest rates fell to around 3 per cent for 5-year fixed mortgages, home prices soared to $789,000 in 2021 before easing to $700,000 in 2023. Despite the sharp rise in costs – and the 14 years now needed to save a 20-per-cent down payment – home ownership among Canadians under age 35 jumped to 44 per cent, the highest level in five decades. That surge is striking when compared to older peers, whose home-ownership rates remain below historical norms. Among 35- to 44-year-olds today, just 63 per cent own a home – 10 points lower than the same age group in 1977. One clue behind the surge in home ownership among Canadians under 35 stands out: in 2023, 18 per cent of young homeowners reported having no mortgage. The only time this figure was higher was in 1984 – when home values were a third of today's, and interest rates were three times as high. Since 1977, the net value of Canadian principal residences – the total worth of homes minus outstanding mortgages – has grown by $1.5-trillion, after adjusting for population, economic growth and inflation. Canadians over 55, who represent just 30 per cent of the population, captured 60 per cent of that windfall. During the pandemic, record-low interest rates allowed many older homeowners to liquify their housing wealth through refinancing. The data – particularly the number of mortgage-free young people - suggest some may have used that wealth to help younger family members enter the market. At the family level, it's a beautiful act of intergenerational love. At the societal level, it's deeply troubling. Because entering the housing market increasingly depends on how much housing wealth your family has accumulated – not how hard you work. That's the textbook definition of a landed aristocracy. This trend is already driving a sharp divide among younger Canadians. The median net worth of homeowners under 35 is $457,000. For their peers who rent, it's just $44,000. In my last column, I called for a national task force to confront a question too many politicians dodge: should home prices rise, stall or fall? That same task force should also take up a related challenge – how to address the growing housing wealth divide between generations, and now increasingly within them. If we believe Canada should reward effort over inheritance, then we must face a hard truth: our housing system is failing the meritocracy test.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Spain draws Sweden in semifinals of Women's Nations League. Germany gets France
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — World champion Spain will continue its defense of the UEFA Women's Nations League title against Sweden in the semifinals after the draw was made on Friday. Spain will host the first leg on Oct. 24 and the return is four days later in Sweden. Germany hosts France first in the other semifinal played on the same dates. France was beaten by Spain 2-0 in Seville in the inaugural final last year. The 2025 final is scheduled over two legs, on Nov. 28 and Dec. 2. All four teams advanced to the finals stage by finishing atop groups that started in February and finished this week — effectively as warmups for the Women's European Championship. Only France won six straight games. First, all four head to the 16-team Euro 2025 that starts on July 2 in Switzerland. Germany and Sweden are in the same Euros group. France is in a tough group with the past two European champions, England and the Netherlands. Spain, the 2023 Women's World Cup winner, starts its Euro 2025 campaign against Portugal on July 3 in Bern. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. ___ AP soccer:
