The owners of the Buffalo Sabres have purchased the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women’s Hockey League, becoming the second N.H.L. ownership group this season to buy into a professional women’s hockey franchise.
Pegula Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Sabres and the N.F.L.’s Buffalo Bills, announced the acquisition of the Beauts on Thursday morning. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Pegula Sports and Entertainment is led by Terry and Kim Pegula. According to Forbes, Terry Pegula’s net worth is $4.3 billion.
“This is monumental,” the N.W.H.L. commissioner, Dani Rylan, said. “This sets the stage and really has the opportunity to ripple effect across the league and really put us on a different level.”
In October, before the N.W.H.L. opened its third season, the Devils bought a partial stake in the Riveters, who were playing out of the Devils’ practice facility in Newark.
Rylan said the Devils’ investment helped accelerate conversations with Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The Beauts’ relationship with the ownership group dates to the league’s inaugural season in 2015, when the Beauts began playing home games at the Pegula-owned HarborCenter in Buffalo. The rink was also the site of the N.W.H.L.’s first All-Star Game, in January 2016.
“We want to contribute to the growth of women’s hockey,” Kim Pegula said in a statement. “HarborCenter has allowed us to make a positive impact on the game at the amateur, high school and collegiate levels, and we believe this is the perfect time to expand our reach to include women’s professional hockey through the N.W.H.L.”
Continue reading the main storyThe Beauts were previously controlled by the N.W.H.L. Before this season, investors’ contributions supported the league as a whole, although the opportunity existed to purchase individual teams.
The league also has teams based in Stamford, Conn., and Boston. Rylan said a goal is to have all four N.W.H.L. teams backed by N.H.L. franchises, a model similar to the one used in the early years of the W.N.B.A.
The N.W.H.L. has worked previously with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Last season’s All-Star Game was held at the Penguins’ training facility, and the N.W.H.L. will return there for a regular-season game between the Beauts and Connecticut Whale on Jan. 14.
While the N.H.L. as a league officially remains unattached to women’s professional hockey in North America, the N.W.H.L. has recently cultivated relationships with other influential organizations in the sport.
The N.W.H.L. announced last week that it would form an All-Star team to play a two-game series in January against the United States women’s national team. On Dec. 30, the Whale will host the South Korean women’s national team at Yale in preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Earlier this season, N.W.H.L. teams played exhibitions against Russia’s national team.
The Beauts are 3-4 and in second place in the N.W.H.L., after winning the Isobel Cup championship last season.
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