By Seth Berkman / New York Times News Service
THE United States women’s national hockey team and its lawyers met for 10 hours on Monday with USA Hockey, working to reach an agreement for increased wages and support.
Two team veterans, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Hilary Knight, called the meetings “productive” and said the team was hopeful that a deal could be reached quickly enough for the players to prepare for the world championship, which begins on March 31 in Plymouth, Michigan.
“A lot of progress was made today,” said Lamoureux-Davidson, who was joined by seven teammates in Philadelphia for the meeting, with an additional 10 players participating remotely.
Negotiations began 14 months ago but stalled, and the team announced a boycott of the world championship last Wednesday in what could become a key moment for the future of women’s hockey.
The players are seeking upgrades, including an increase in compensation that would assist with living wages, as well as more investment in girls’ hockey programs and development efforts.
Under the current setup, factors like accommodations for guests have been burdens for women’s players. During past Olympics, players’ families have crammed into hotel rooms, some sleeping on the floor. Lamoureux-Davidson and her sister Monique Lamoureux-Morando, who have each won two silver medals with the women’s team, began selling T-shirts earlier this year to raise money to help bring their families to Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018. USA Hockey provides two free tickets for each Olympic game.
The US men’s team, composed of National Hockey League (NHL) stars, has regularly had upscale accommodations for players and a guest. The International Olympic Committee spent about $14 million for travel and insurance to send NHL players to Sochi, Russia, in 2014.
Currently, the NHL is balking at sending its players to Pyeongchang for the 2018 Games because the International Olympic Committee has said it will no longer cover the cost of air travel, insurance and accommodations.
Because of their large NHL salaries, US men’s team players do not rely on support from USA Hockey. So the female players have focused on comparing their situation to USA Hockey’s development programs for boys, who are similarly involved with the organization on a year-round basis.
Hockey raised $19.5 million through a tax-exempt bond to buy and expand a facility in Plymouth, a project focused on catering to the National Team Development Program for the men’s team. USA Hockey annually spends $3.5 million on events for its developmental players, which currently includes just boys’ and men’s teams.
“That’s why we don’t say we want equal pay,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “That’s why we say equitable support.”
Female national team players receive $1,000 per month for a six-month period every four years from USA Hockey, in addition to $750 to $2,000 per month outside that period in training stipends from the US Olympic Committee (USOC). Because of their training schedules, it is nearly impossible to hold full-time jobs. Some players have used the USOC money to pay rent or buy groceries.
Before the Sochi Games, the women’s team’s contract granted USA Hockey a royalty-free worldwide license for the organization and third parties to use their names and likenesses, while acknowledging they are independent contractors, leaving the organization no liability for taxes.
At those games, the US lost to Canada, 3-2, in overtime in the gold-medal game, which drew almost 5 million viewers on NBC. After the games, players said they learned of invitations that had gone unanswered for national television and other promotional appearances, which could have continued the momentum for interest in women’s hockey.
Several agents and players from the United States and other countries have said that the International Ice Hockey Federation awards prize money at major men’s tournaments, but not at women’s events. The International Ice Hockey Federation did not respond to questions about this award and would say only that it was monitoring the situation about the US national team closely.
“What we’re fighting for is not just an American hockey problem,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “It’s a global problem.”
In comparison, the Canadian women’s national team has an intricate system of compensation, with support extending from national and local governments to major corporations and nonprofits. That came as a result of a push by the national team after the first women’s hockey tournament in Nagano, Japan, in 1998.
Hayley Wickenheiser, who has competed in five Olympics for Canada, credited Therese Brisson, Stacy Wilson and other veterans with helping create the Women’s High Performance Advisory Committee to act as a players’ union. They stressed four-year deals that would cover them in non-Olympic years.
Players receive up to $1,500 per month from the Canadian government’s Athlete Assistance Program, and Hockey Canada contributes an additional sum to that stipend during Olympic years—reportedly an extra $1,000 a month.
But the team also draws support from a wide net of organizations. Before the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, Molson-Coors Canada gave $200,000 for family members of the Canadian national team to attend the games. A spokesman for Molson said it could not release current figures for competitive and confidential reasons, but an agent who has represented Canadian players that participated in the past three Olympics said the company had given as much as $25,000 to each player. Nonprofit organizations like Own The Podium and the Canadian Athletes Now Fund have also supported the team.