BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Stan Kasten is a busy man these days. When he’s not helping lock down the biggest contract in MLB history with Shohei Ohtani, he’s out vigorously promoting the new Professional Women’s Hockey League.
The 71-year-old sports executive, though, is not worn down by his dual roles with the Los Angeles Dodgers and PWHL. Instead, he is as energized as can be, even if he admitted a certain stretch in December led to some “pretty crazy days.”
That’s when Kasten, president and CEO of the Dodgers, was in the throes of the Ohtani negotiations, one that culminated in a staggering 10-year, $700 million contract for the Japanese superstar. Simultaneously, in his role as advisory board member for the PWHL, he was helping launch a brand-new league that played its first game on New Year’s Day.
It’s the new women’s hockey league that brought him to Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport on Friday. Kasten is attending the home opener for each of the Original 6 (sound familiar NHL fans?) teams. Friday, it was New York’s turn.
And Kasten was doing what he does best before puck drop that night. Selling his product.
“This is another great stop on what is a great week for us,” said Kasten, wearing a broad smile on his face and a PWHL logo on his jacket. “A week ago, we believed this league was going to work, we hoped it would work. Now I can say, ‘This is working.’ It’s already gone way beyond our expectations.”
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Stan Kasten brings valuable experience helping to launch PWHL
You get a bit of carnival barker with Kasten. But you also understand this is one of the most successful people within the sports industry over the past half century or so. He became the youngest general manager in NBA history at age 27 when hired by the Atlanta Hawks. He was president of the Hawks, Atlanta Braves (MLB) and Atlanta Thrashers (NHL) at the same time for a stretch in the late 1990s. He was also president of the Washington Nationals.
So, when he speaks as passionately as he does about the PWHL, bringing the best women’s hockey players together for the first time in a truly professional league with long-term viability, you pay attention.
“The only thing that was critical was that we had to get the hockey right,” Kasten explained. “And we got the hockey right. We have the best players in the world. They’re playing in major league-quality venues with major league-quality facilities to train, to practice. Housing, nutrition, all of the things elite athletes have always deserved, and this group of athletes never had.”
Kasten is at the forefront of a massive undertaking, one that has been somewhat rushed since the PWHL was born out of a partnership with the players this past summer. The new league bought out and folded the Premier Hockey Federation, an underfunded professional league that many of the game’s top players refused to play in. Soon after, six cities were selected to have teams, free agency commenced and the first player draft was held.
The curtain then raised on a 24-game inaugural season Jan. 1 when New York shut out Toronto 4-0 in the first game in PWHL history.
What followed in short order was 8,318 fans attending Ottawa’s home opener. And then an astounding 13,316 in attendance for Minnesota’s first home game at Xcel Energy Center, where the Minnesota Wild play.
On Friday, a day before the game in Minnesota, Kasten quipped, “They’ve already sold 10,000 tickets to the first game in the State of Hockey. That’s significant because that’s one ticket for every lake. If only we had more lakes there.”
Turns out, more lakes weren’t needed.
Not everything perfect for PWHL, but Stan Kasten believes ‘we’ve got the hockey right’
All is not perfect in the PWHL. For instance, teams don’t have nicknames yet, just city names. There’ve been some issues with online merchandise sales. And New York is trying to build its fan base when playing some of its games in Connecticut and others 60 miles away on Long Island at UBS Arena, home of the New York Islanders.
“Everything is a tryout for us,” Kasten said. “Let’s see how we do. Let’s see what we learn. I’m going to learn from every ticket we sell and every ticket we don’t sell.
“We know we’ve got the hockey right. But are the cities right? Are the venues right? We think they are but give us some time. We’ll study all that.”
The PWHL is owned by the Mark Walter Group, which also owns the Dodgers. That sole ownership of each PWHL team is unique in professional sports. It’s led to a collaborative effort between the teams, as well as the league and its players, to make this new venture a success.
“He’s very happy. I told him it’s going to be expensive, especially early on, because you can’t cut corners to make it major league,” Kasten said, referring to Walter. “He said, ‘That’s okay because we’re doing something good.’”
That feeling of doing the right thing carries from Walter on down through the players and staff in the PWHL. That this league is important on levels that surpass business success.
“One of our star players said to me that little girls used to come up to her and say, ‘I’d like to be a professional hockey player. Can I do that?’ And she said she could never look them in the eye and say they could.
“And now I can.”