CWHL closes after overseeing growth in women's ice hockey

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The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) announced Sunday on its official website that the league will cease operating from May 1 because its current business model lacks sustainability and cannot fund the league's operation.

"The Board of Directors of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) has made the decision to discontinue operations effective May 1, 2019. Unfortunately, while the on-ice hockey is exceptional, the business model has proven to be economically unsustainable," said the CWHL in a press release.

A 2018-19 CWHL regular season game between the Calgary Inferno (white) and the Shenzhen Vanke Rays (red), February 20. /VCG Photo

The league expressed its gratefulness to fans, sponsors and teams while remaining hopeful of the development of women's ice hockey in Canada.

"There are a large number of organizations that have stated their support for women's hockey and expressed the desire to see this sport continue to grow," said CWHL interim commissioner Jayna Hefford on Sunday.

The league was established in 2007 by professional and community players with the goal of promoting ice hockey among women. On March 24, some 175,000 fans watched the 2019 Clarkson Cup between the Calgary Inferno and the Canadiennes de Montreal, the most in the event's history.

Members of the 2019 Clarkson Cup championship team, the Calgary Inferno, are honored before the start of an NHL game between the Calgary Flames and the Dallas Stars at the Scotiabank Saddledome, March 27. /VCG Photo

There are two women's ice leagues in North America, one is the CWHL and the other The National Women's Hockey League (NWHL). The two leagues have a total of 11 teams. However, many players are not making enough money, let alone good money to support their lives. Therefore, they had to keep other jobs like accounting and teaching while making time for training.

Meanwhile, ice hockey has been developing well among women. According to the inaugural IIHF Women's Ice Hockey Workshop in Copenhagen, in July 2018, there were nearly 200,000 females playing the sport around the world, meaning growth of 17 percent compared with the number in 2010. Meanwhile, there were 79,355 registered female ice hockey players and 33,236 of them were girls at or under the age of 10.

If you look at it from this angle, the CWHL served its purpose pretty well.