A dramatic shift in women’s professional hockey is about to take place, according to multiple reports. 

The massive shakeup likely will bring women’s hockey under one roof after Billie Jean King Enterprises and the Mark Walter Group purchased the Premier Hockey Federation (PFH), the Associated Press reported.

PHF players will play alongside athletes from the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) in what has been described as a buyout of the PHF while PHF player contracts have been voided, according to Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek. 

The news is a significant marker for professional women’s hockey in North America since it likely will lead to the formation of one league consisting of the best women’s players. 

It also ends a long-running divide between the PWHPA and the PHF. 

Players from both sides were informed of the news in meetings on Thursday night and members of the PWHPA were told that they will be voting to ratify a “first-of-its-kind CBA in the coming days,” The Athletic reported. 

Not many details have made their way to the public, but women’s hockey reporter Melissa Burgess indicated that PHF commissioner Reagan Carey and PWHPA operations consultant Jayna Hefford will have leadership roles in the new league. 

The new women’s league would begin play in January 2024, according to the AP.

The PWHPA has been working with Billie Jean King Enterprises and the Mark Walter Group since 2022 to try and launch a sustainable women’s professional hockey league. 

The PHF, formerly known as the National Women’s Hockey League, had been the only option for pro women’s hockey players since the Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded in 2019. 

The National Hockey League has worked to spotlight women’s hockey, but the league does not have the same financial commitment to grow the sport the way the NBA has invested to support the WNBA in basketball. 

The PWHPA had partnerships with 14 NHL clubs, but NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said in the past that the league wouldn’t invest in women’s pro hockey until there is one unified league with a solid business plan.