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As Mark Walter continues to peel off parts of his sports empire, the Professional Women’s Hockey League insists it is not heading toward new ownership.
The three-year-old, single-entity league is primarily owned by billionaire Guggenheim Partners CEO Walter, the prolific team owner who started shedding his sports assets this year amid a federal probe into his companies. The PWHL named its championship trophy for Walter, who has already offloaded his majority stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers and Premier League club Chelsea, and is also looking to sell the Los Angeles Sparks, according to Bloomberg. The latest report, which came on Monday from Sportico, indicates Walter is also seeking to sell his Cadillac Formula 1 team for at least $3 billion.
A spokesperson for PWHL told Front Office Sports on Monday that an August statement from PWHL advisory board member Stan Kasten—president of the Dodgers, the crown jewel of Walter’s sports portfolio—“continues to reflect the league’s position.”
In other words, the PWHL insists it is firmly under Walter’s ownership. Kasten’s statement, which was widely published this summer in reference to the federal investigation, said there is “absolutely no expected change to ownership of the PWHL.”
“We continue to operate with the same long-term outlook and commitment to building a sustainable league that we had when we launched,” Kasten said. “This is such a thrilling time to be part of the PWHL, or, more importantly, to be a fan. We remain a startup, but we never thought we would be at 12 teams after just three seasons. The future of the league is bright, and our ownership is incredibly proud of both the progress we’ve made so far, as well as our future.”
The PWHL spokesperson reiterated again on Tuesday that Kasten’s statement remains the league’s official stance on the matter.
The Wall Street Journal first reported in July that federal investigators were looking into potential fraud by Walter and his insurance companies. His massive holding company, TWG Global, put out a statement in August saying “there has been no fraud” and “no victim here.”
“Regarding the Los Angeles Dodgers, to be clear, the team is not being sold and no sale process has been initiated,” TWG said. However, that same statement said TWG was “not considering exiting its stake” in Cadillac.
Also in August, the Lakers announced Walter would sell his majority stake, purchased less than a year earlier, to Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger. He then offloaded Chelsea in September, followed by moves to sell the Sparks and Cadillac. And, despite the PWHL’s insistence that Walter will remain its owner, users on Reddit noticed that he used the league’s trademarks as collateral for a loan.
TWG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In addition to the federal probe, Walter is also facing a class action lawsuit that claims he and his insurance companies misled policy holders.
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