NWHL Founder & Commissioner Dani Rylan said that the league has "enough money on hand to get through the first season," according to Pat Borzi in a special for espnW. Rylan in a Q&A said, "We're in this for the long haul. We definitely have a support system that makes sure this is going to be successful and will be successful." Below are more excerpts from the interview:
Q: So far you've had no luck landing major sponsors for the league. Why do you think potential sponsors are hesitating?
Rylan: There was a huge push to get huge sponsors before the first puck-drop, but sponsors want to know tangible numbers -- how many butts are in the seats, what is our exact demographic. They want things we don't really have the answers to yet. We want to focus on making Year 1 as successful as possible, so in Year 2 sponsors are approaching us. The companies that wanted us to get our bumps and bruises and learn through Year 1, we'll circle back with them, and it will be a no-brainer. It's going to be yeses across the board.
Q: Even before the league played its first game, you hinted it might consider expansion if the first year goes well. That's pretty bold. Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?
Rylan: If we have a successful Year 1, expansion in Year 2 is definitely on the horizon.
Q: You've been actively courting the [Western Women's Hockey League] Minnesota Whitecaps. They're pretty far afield from the Northeast. What's the attraction of Minnesota?
Rylan: The numbers show 33 percent of all USA Hockey registration among girls and women is in the Northeast, and 19 percent is in the state of Minnesota alone. When we think of expanding down the line, it's somewhere we definitely want to go. We want to start building that alliance and that relationship as soon as we can.
Q: How many teams are you thinking for expansion?
Rylan: We may have 10. We'll see how successful we are (ESPNW.com, 10/15).
Borzi also wrote under the header, "Will Gamble On Women's Hockey League Pay Off?"
