The National Women's Hockey League board approved investments to add teams in two Canadian markets that are expected to be Toronto and Montreal, league commissioner Dani Rylan told ESPN's Emily Kaplan on Tuesday.
This news comes days after the Canadian Women's Hockey League announced it will discontinue operations beginning May 1 due to financial concerns.
Rylan said she met Monday with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, and the NHL agreed to "significantly" raise its financial contribution to the NWHL. That will make it one of the league's biggest sponsors.
The NHL is going from paying $50k to each women’s league to now paying $100k for the one league remaining, according to a source https://t.co/doMNSEI02m
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) April 2, 2019
The NWHL commissioner says she's also heard interest in potential private ownership of franchises, "not only from NHL owners, but other major stakeholders in major-league sports."
Toronto and Montreal, both of which housed CWHL teams, are expected to take the NWHL to seven franchises to go along with clubs already in Boston, Buffalo, Connecticut, Minnesota, and New Jersey.
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