PWHL seeks to sustain momentum of fast-tracked growth by adding first investors: Ilitch, Tanenbaum

The PWHL is taking on two prominent names in North American sports as its first two investors in reaching a major milestone in the privately-backed league’s fast-rising trajectory, and representing yet another sign of women’s hockey’s promising future.

Coming on board as strategic partners are the Detroit-based Ilitch Companies, and the Larry Tanenbaum-backed Toronto-based Kilmer Sports Ventures, the league announced Monday.

The two multi-sports-team-owning groups bring a wealth of financial backing, business connections and influence to a 12-team league that’s doubled in size since being established in June of 2023.

“This is the clearest signal of validation to the marketplace, to the players, to other owners, to media companies that we are cementing our reputation as one of the fastest-growing sports properties in the world,” PWHL advisory board member Stan Kasten told The Associated Press.

“These are serious, long-time experienced sports investors, and they are telling the world what they think about us,” he added “And that says much more than just them writing a check.”

With the additions, the PWHL’s existing centralized structure will remain in place, headed by founder and primary financial backers Mark and Kimbra Walter. The Walters, together with the PWHL’s advisory board, will continue overseeing operations, with the new partners providing expertise, relationships and perspective, the league said.

“Kimbra and I are incredibly proud of what the PWHL has accomplished in a short time, and are excited about what it can achieve moving forward,” said Walter, who’s holdings include baseball’s Dodgers and the NBA Lakers.

Kasten said adding investors is well ahead of schedule, and deemed timely entering Season 4 to support the momentum the PWHL gained coming out of the Milan Cortina Games.

The league registered growth in nearly every metric last season, with U.S. numbers spiking further following the Hilary Knight-led Team USA’s gold-medal victory in February. The league also expanded its North American footprint last month by adding teams in Detroit, Las Vegas, San Jose and Hamilton, Ontario.

“I want to hear the case for going slower, but I can’t imagine it,” Kasten said. “The reception of fans, of sponsors and other willing partners has allowed us to go faster.”

The Ilitch family’s holdings include the NHL Red Wings and baseball’s Tigers. The Ilitch’s influence was apparent last week, with a wide range of company employees involved in Detroit hosting the PWHL’s awards and draft.

“The PWHL’s rise has been one of the most compelling stories in professional sports, and we are proud to be part of that story,” said company CEO Chris Ilitch. “Investing in the PWHL means an opportunity to broaden the game’s reach, connect with new fans, and create pathways for athletes for generations to come."

Tanenbaum is chairman emeritus and maintains a personal stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, whose properties include the NHL Maple Leafs and NBA’s Raptors. Meantime, Kilmer Sports owns the WNBA's Toronto Tempo and France’s AS Saint-Etienne soccer team.

“What Mark Walter and PWHL senior leadership have built so quickly is incredible, and we’re honored to be part of this league and everything it stands for,” Tanenbaum said.

The financial injection will not immediately translate into pay raises for players, because the PWHL has yet to turn a profit on the hundreds of millions of dollars Walter has already invested, Kasten said.

“When we are making money, that would be a great day for me and for the players,” he said. “We’re not there yet. I hope this gets us closer.”

The PWHL became the first professional women's league to open with a collective bargaining agreement in place, and running through 2031. Last season, 10 of 194 players had salaries topping $100,000, with the minimum at just over $37,000, according to the PWHL Players Association.

The PWHL has grown from a six-team league that launched on Jan. 1, 2024, with Toronto hosting the inaugural game at the 2,500-seat Mattamy Athletic Centre. Within five months, Toronto had relocated to its current home, the 8,500-plus seat Coca-Cola Coliseum — and after enjoying a regular-season game sellout at the Maple Leafs’ 19,200-capacity home.

Last season’s average attendance of 9,304 represented a 28% jump over 2024-25. The league also grew its corporate partnership base to 81, up from just over 50 a year earlier.

With 12 teams, the league is better positioned to attract a U.S. national broadcast partner. Last season, Scripps Sports aired numerous games, including the Walter Cup Finals, on ION, which reaches 126 million American households.

The PWHL is also poised to improve its existing broadcast deals in Canada once its current contracts expire after next season. One possibility is enhancing its agreement with CBC, with the national broadcaster ending its lengthy history of airing NHL games.

Kasten would only say, “stay tuned.”

“We didn't know what we had,” he added, reflecting on the PWHL's launch.

“We didn't have venues. We didn't have cities. We didn't have logos,” Kasten said. “We felt deeply that if we provided the environment for the greatest women's hockey players in the world to do what they do, that there would be a market for them. And that has been demonstrated in countless ways over and over.”

AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers owner and chairman Mark Walter speaks during a baseball news conference in Los Angeles on Sept. 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo, File)

FILE - Chris Ilitch, Detroit Red Wings president and CEO, speaks before the team's NHL hockey game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Oct. 11, 2018, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

FILE - Larry Tanenbaum of Kilmer Sports Ventures gives remarks during a news conference announcing the city's WNBA franchise, May 23, 2024, in Toronto. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - NHL Network's Jamie Hersch, center, announces the PWHL women's hockey expansion team beginning in the 2026-27 season, May 13, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Mark Anderson

FILE - The Montreal Victoire pose for a photo with the PWHL Walter Cup after the team's win against the Ottawa Charge, in Ottawa, May 20, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday reinstated a murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.

The justices, by a 6-3 vote, granted an appeal from New York prosecutors who had urged them to undo a federal appeals court decision that overturned the verdict. The three liberal justices dissented.

Prosecutors had been preparing to try the man, Pedro Hernandez, for a third time. His first trial ended in a mistrial.

The unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed Hernandez’ murder and kidnapping conviction in the second trial because of how the judge had answered a question from jurors.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had called the basis for overturning the conviction “a slender reed” that essentially ignored a five-month-long trial with 66 witnesses.

The justices agreed, in an unsigned opinion, that federal courts should not second-guess state courts under a 1996 federal law that was intended to reduce federal court oversight of state criminal trials.

“The Second Circuit exceeded its authority in holding that Hernandez is entitled to relief,” the justices wrote.

Hernandez, 64, has been serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Bragg hailed the high court’s decision. “This office has remained steadfast in its pursuit of justice for Etan and the Patz family and will continue to stand by this important conviction,” Bragg, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Hernandez’ lawyers said they were “terribly disappointed” by the ruling. “We firmly believe that an innocent man is in jail for a crime that he did not commit,” attorneys Harvey Fishbein and Alice Fontier said.

Hernandez admitted to the crime under police questioning, but his lawyers say he confessed falsely because of a mental illness that sometimes made him hallucinate. They emphasized that the admission came after police queried him for about seven hours before reading him his rights and recording the interview. Hernandez then repeated his confession on tape, at least twice.

Etan vanished while walking to his downtown Manhattan school bus stop on May 25, 1979. Hernandez worked at a nearby convenience shop at the time, but the Maple Shade, New Jersey, resident didn’t become a suspect until 2012.

Etan was among the first missing children ever to appear on milk cartons, and the anniversary of his disappearance became National Missing Children’s Day.

Hernandez already has been tried twice. A jury deadlocked in 2015, and then a different panel of jurors convicted him at a 2017 retrial.

During deliberations, the 2017 jurors asked a complicated question: If they decided Hernandez didn’t confess voluntarily when he hadn’t been read his rights yet, must they disregard his other confessions? The then-judge responded simply, “the answer is no.” The jury went on to convict.

In overturning that verdict, the appeals court said the jury’s question should have gotten a more fulsome answer, including the possibility of discounting all the confessions.

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report from New York.

FILE- In this Nov. 15, 2012, file photo, Pedro Hernandez appears in Manhattan criminal court in New York. (AP Photo/Louis Lanzano, Pool, File)

FILE - A photograph of Etan Patz hangs on an angel figurine, as part of a makeshift memorial in New York, May 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court is seen, June 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)