Tyler Tumminia has worked often with MiLB teams.getty images
The six-team National Women’s Hockey League named former Goldklang Group senior vice president Tyler Tumminia as its interim commissioner after founder Dani Rylan Kearney stepped down a week ago.
Rylan Kearney’s day-to-day mandate now will be finding new independent owners for the four NWHL-owned clubs as Tumminia, who previously served as chairperson for the newest NWHL expansion club Toronto Six, works to make the only North American women’s pro hockey league what she called “sustainable.”
“It’s crucial that the league and the clubs take a giant step forward now,” Tumminia said of the NWHL, which switched from a single-entity structure to more of a traditional model and is scheduled to begin its sixth season in January.
Tumminia’s immediate priorities center around working with the league’s six-person board of governors on a schedule for the upcoming campaign, she said.
The biggest growth opportunities for the NWHL are twofold: exposure on broadcast television and “true sponsorships,” according to Tumminia. A year ago, the league began the first year of a three-year livestreaming deal with Twitch, and Tumminia believes there’s a bigger opportunity for the NWHL on linear television. She cited the viewership success of the NWSL’s Utah-based Challenge Cup, which aired on CBS and CBS All Access earlier this summer, as well as the recently completed WNBA season broadcast via ESPN.
“Women’s hockey has earned a bigger stage,” Tumminia said. “We’ll definitely be reaching out to certain networks and seeing how we can align in a substantial way.”
Finding national and local sponsors that are fully invested in elevating the league, its clubs and players is also a top priority. The NWHL’s current portfolio of national sponsors includes Dunkin’, NYU Langone Health and Hyperice, among others.
“We want some really rich partners that understand what we’re trying to do with the women’s movement, the women’s athletes and the women’s game,” she added.
Tumminia, who worked with MiLB clubs for more than 15 years while at Goldklang, said that one could assume that the league will be adding more teams in the future. While she didn’t provide specific target markets for expansion, Tumminia did say that identifying those — both in the U.S. and Canada — is also a short-term focus.
“Those [new independent] owners are going to be very important to the next three to five years of our growth, really getting backing by people who want to see us succeed and have the dollars to do that,” she said.
