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The Premier Hockey Federation unveiled plans to double its salary cap from $300,000 to $750,000 in January — and now the sole North American women’s hockey league announced it’s expanding to Montreal.
The league’s seventh franchise, which has yet to be named, will debut during the 2022-23 season.
BTM Partners will own the team — its third in the PHF.
- The company also owns New Jersey’s Metropolitan Riveters and the Boston Pride.
- BTM sold the Toronto Six earlier this year reportedly for a price between $3 million and $5 million.
Montreal, the second Canadian market to have a PHF team, will play its home games at Centre 21.02, which has a 2,500-seat capacity. The franchise has been in the works for the last year-and-a-half but was reportedly delayed a year due to the pandemic.
The league began with four teams in 2015, adding the preexisting Minnesota Whitecaps in 2016 and the Toronto Six in 2020.
Eight’s Date
The PHF was originally planning to add an eighth team in a U.S. city by next season, but that may be delayed. PHF commissioner Reagan Carey said it’s in the sport’s best interest to take a slow approach to ensure long-term stability.
“I have no reservations about committing to expansion in season nine,” said Carey, who was hired in April.
Along with the salary increase announcement in January, the PHF’s board of governors made a commitment to invest more than $25 million in the league over the next three years.
