Spon­sors and investors are lacking

Just as women's football in Europe (and the United States) is becoming increasingly better and more professional, with major European clubs such as Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and PSV Eindhoven all having and supporting women's teams, a similar development is taking place in ice hockey on the other side of the Atlantic. The National Women's Hockey League has also established itself there as a professional women's ice hockey league in the United States and Canada.

The NWHL is still very young – only founded in 2015 – and is also the only professional women's league in the world that aspires to pay its players appropriately. However, this is only possible to a limited extent, as the NWHL lacks sponsors and investors, just as was the case in women's football for a long time. The highest-paid player received no more than 20.000 US dollars for the entire 2019/2020 season. With such low earnings, most players have to work a second job alongside ice hockey, which means the standard in the NWHL remains relatively low, perhaps even lower than in Russia or Sweden.

The fact that the 2020/21 season final between Boston and Minnesota was broadcast live on NBC Sports Network on 27 March 2021 may help the NWHL attract spectators, sponsors and investors. Until now, NWHL games had only been broadcast on the gaming platform Twitch. Broadcasting the final on NBC Sports was also a novelty and gave many more people who had previously been unable to watch NWHL games live the opportunity to see the match live. The final was won 4:3 by the Boston Pride against the Minnesota Whitecaps.

As ice hockey is a typical winter sport and the next NWHL season will begin again in winter 2021, you will be able to watch games again from January 2022. If you want to experience a match in person and travel to the United States to do so, do not forget to apply for an ESTA or a visa before departure. Please also note that there are certain additional requirements for entering the USA with an ESTA, such as a maximum stay of 90 days in the USA and the fact that the ESTA can only be used for holiday and/or business travel or transit in the USA. Naturally, attending one or more NWHL games falls under the term "holiday travel".

Like the NHL, the NWHL is also a franchise league, meaning that, unlike in European football, there are no clubs promoted or relegated, but rather the same clubs always play in the league – and the clubs that form the league together can admit (co-opt) a new club or exclude one from the league; however, the latter only really happens when a club goes bankrupt or otherwise dissolves itself.

Until the 2020/2021 season, the NHWL consisted of five teams, all from the USA. The Toronto Six – from Canada – were then admitted to the NHWL. In their very first NWHL season, the Toronto Six reached the semi-finals of the NHWL championship, which bodes well for the team's future.