Former Northeastern Univ. hockey player Dani Rylan and IIHF HOFer and IOC member Angela Ruggiero have created the National Women's Hockey League, which is "set to debut" in '15-16, according to Jen Neale of YAHOO SPORTS. The U.S. women's pro league "operates as a dual-entity." Part of the business is made up of league operations with "income coming from sponsors." The other part is the NWHL Foundation, a charitable wing "meant for spreading women’s hockey through grassroots efforts." Each of the league’s four teams -- the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale and N.Y. Riveters -- will be "given an operating budget for which all players, team staff and other expenses will be paid." The NWHL "sets a salary cap for each team" at $270,000. Players will be "treated like employees, where taxes will be withdrawn from their paychecks just like everyone else." After identifying the Northeast as the "current hotbed for female hockey players," the teams were "strategically placed in the areas with the most potential for further growth." Rylan "secured the blessing" from former NHL team owner Howard Baldwin Jr. to "use the name and a similar logo to the Hartford Whalers of yore" for the Connecticut team. The NWHL season "stretches from October to March, including preseason and playoffs" with each team playing nine home games and nine away games. For each market, the home games "will be themed (think: military appreciation, cancer awareness, etc.) and heavily marketed to draw as much interest as possible." Rylan and her compatriots are "targeting national sponsors to fund the league as a whole, and local sponsors for the individual teams" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/26).
