NHL and commissioner Bettman accused of being cheap skates!

There were shocking news over the weekend of the CWHL’s plans to abruptly cease operations and the National Women’s Hockey League moved swiftly on Tuesday to expand to Toronto and Montreal following the demise of its Canadian-based rival.

TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported the NHL had given $50,000 a year to both the CWHL and the NWHL. However, with the CWHL set to halt operations as of May 1, the insider revealed that the NHL will now contribute $100,000 to the NWHL.

The public reaction to the NHL’s contribution has yielded a mix of surprise, anger and confusion. Everyone expected more from a league projected to pull more than $4.5 billion in revenue during the 2018-19 season. 

LeBrun commented on the move and the fans’ reaction during Tuesday night’s segment of Insider Trading. It seems like the NHL has a logical reasoning behind their controversial move: 

“And it feels like that number was missing a zero in the eyes of many after I reported that but the thing is it’s a $100,000 sponsorship from the NHL to the NWHL and I think the reason it isn’t a bigger investment quite frankly in my eyes is that the NHL I think has questions about the business model of that league and long term. 

“I think there’s no question the NHL might be in a position eventually where if there is no women’s league on either side of the border, perhaps it would get behind its own women’s league. But for now, I don’t think the National Hockey League wants to get in the way of an existing league, which there still is with the NWHL. So for now, it’s $100,000, it’s not a lot, but it’s up to the NWHL to try and make some hay now that it’s the only women’s league still going.”

The sad thing is that the NWHL gets the kind of money the NHL puts up for grabs in contest. Yep, the latest one, the “Stanley Cup Playoff Bracket Challenge” will offer a grand prize of 100K…

Maybe the NWHL should take part in this contest…