The NWHL is expanding to Toronto for the upcoming 2020-2021 season, the league announced on Wednesday.

BREAKING: The NWHL is officially coming to Canada at the start of Season 6 ????????

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— NWHL (@NWHL) April 22, 2020

This will be the first Canadian team to join what is currently the only professional women’s hockey league in North America following the discontinuation of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League in 2019. The as-yet-unnamed Toronto franchise will be the sixth in the league. The ownership group is led by Johanna Neilson Boynton, a former captain of the Harvard’s women’s hockey team. Margaret “Diget” Murphy, a longtime college and CWHL coach, is the team president, while Tyler Tumminia will serve as a chairman.

The NWHL was supposed to wrap up its fifth season in March, but had to postpone due to the coronavirus.

The league still has a few logistics it needs to sort out, including where the Toronto club will play and how the NWHL will handle salaries and insurance considering it’s a U.S.-based business. Nevertheless, league officials are thrilled to be expanding to what is a hotbed for the sport, with commissioner Dani Rylan calling the move “a pivotal and proud moment for the NWHL.”

The city of Toronto has likewise welcomed the expansion.

“Our city has a rich history with professional women’s hockey and we are excited to begin this next chapter with the NWHL,” said Toronto mayor John Tory in a statement. “I hope that this team achieves success and longevity in our city and that this team will serve as an inspiration for young girls to pursue careers in professional sports.”

Last year, a group of nearly 200 players, including many of the sport’s biggest names, chose not to play in the NWHL, instead creating the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association. The PWHPA has stated that it intends to boycott all professional leagues in North America in the hopes that a new one will emerge promising greater financial stability. As that has yet to happen, the PWHPA is planning to offer counterprogramming for the second straight year.

In a statement regarding the expansion, the PWHPA said “the opportunities that the NWHL will provide may be good some players, but it’s not the opportunities that we want for our players or for future generations of young girls who will play this game at the highest level.”

????PWHPA statement on NWHL expansion pic.twitter.com/uCvuZYBc9h

— PWHPA (@PWHPA) April 22, 2020

In our own interview with Hilary Knight, the de-facto face of the PWHPA, Knight likewise insisted there was no truth to the “us versus them” narrative pitting the PWHPA against the NWHL.

“I think there’s just a difference of opinion as to how to move the game forward,” said Knight. “I always want to be honest about what I believe is right for the sport, and how people receive it is entirely up to them. I am not on a personal mission to exploit or ‘destroy’ a league, but I will be critical of something that makes lofty claims and doesn’t measure up.”

Sportico released its 2025 tennis prize money tracker late last week, and three of the annual cross-tour rankings' Top-5 earners hail from the WTA.

With $8.21 million in total 2025 earnings so far, newly minted Wimbledon winner Iga Świątek came in third behind ATP Tour giants Carlos Alcaraz ($10.63 million) and Jannik Sinner ($9.04 million).

Just behind Świątek sit reigning US Open champ Aryna Sabalenka ($7.13 million) and 2025 French Open winner Coco Gauff ($5.95 million) in fourth- and fifth-place, respectively.

Even more, a total of six women's tour standouts occupy slots in the Top 10, with Mirra Andreeva ($4.15 million), Madison Keys ($3.96 million), and Jasmine Paolini ($3.79 million) joining the previously trio in that upper echelon.

The gender parity on the list is a direct result of the fact that all four of the sport's Grand Slams boast equal prize money between the men's and women's competitions — a shift that began with the 1973 US Open and saw full adoption across the quartet of tennis majors with the 2007 Wimbledon Championships.

Now approaching two decades of Grand Slam equal pay, pro tennis players enjoy one of the highest in-competition earning potentials across all women's sports.

This year's tennis prize money rankings are far from locked in, however, as the 2025 US Open steps into its second round on Wednesday — with a record-setting $90 million total purse on the line to boost players' spots on the list.

Should world No. 1 Sabalenka defend her title — or if No. 2 Świątek or No. 3 Gauff emerges victorious in the season's final Grand Slam — a WTA player could launch herself to the top of the 2025 earnings list.

The No. 3 Las Vegas Aces are on an historic tear, extending the league's longest winning streak this season to 11 games by defeating the No. 12 Chicago Sky 79-74 on Monday night — becoming the second team to clinch a spot in the 2025 WNBA Playoffs in the process.

Despite a 30-point performance from Chicago guard Ariel Atkins, plus double-doubles from Sky center Kamilla Cardoso and forward Angel Reese, the Aces emerged victorious behind guard Jackie Young's team-leading 22 points.

MVP contender A'ja Wilson and veteran guard Chelsea Gray also added 18 and 14 points, respectively, to fuel the Las Vegas win.

"They've been resilient," Aces head coach Becky Hammon said following Monday's game. "It's been a really tough stretch…you're getting beat up and you've got to maintain, you have to play through it."

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The Aces haven't dropped a game since August 2nd's 53-point blowout loss to the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, racking up seven wins over teams currently in postseason positions as they climb the WNBA standings.

As for the already-eliminated Sky, Chicago did have one big reason to celebrate on Monday night, as the team raised the jersey of retired WNBA legend Candace Parker into the rafters during a halftime ceremony complete with remarks from current Phoenix Mercury star and 2021 WNBA champion Kahleah Copper.

"Today we celebrate you," Copper said to her former teammate. "You gave this game everything. Your time, your body, your heart. You didn't just play the game — you set records, you broke barriers, and you left your mark in ways stats can't fully compare."

How to watch the Las Vegas Aces this week

The No. 3 Aces have their work cut out for them as they shoot for 12 straight wins during their visit to the No. 2 Atlanta Dream on Wednesday.

The clash tips off at 7:30 PM ET with live coverage airing on NBA TV.

The No. 5 New York Liberty stopped the skid on Monday, as the reigning WNBA champions claimed a tight 81-79 victory over the No. 11 Connecticut Sun with 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart back the starting lineup.

Following her 13-game absence due to a bone bruise, Stewart scored a team-leading 19 points on Monday, offsetting Sun guard Leïla Lacan's game-high 22 points as already-eliminated Connecticut tried to play spoiler in Brooklyn.

"She's just got this relentlessness about her that can rub off on her teammates," New York head coach Sandy Brondello said of Stewart's influence. "She's got the highest motor I've ever seen in a player that just keeps going and going."

The Liberty have struggled with availability all season, losing guards Sabrina Ionescu (foot injury) and Natasha Cloud (nose fracture) to injury in the run-up to Stewart's return as the team slid down the standings.

However, Ionescu joined Stewart in returning to the Liberty court on Monday, with Cloud reportedly on track to rejoin the New York lineup later this week.

With games against the No. 10 Washington Mystics, No. 4 Phoenix Mercury, and No. 7 Golden State Valkyries looming over the next week, the Liberty are hoping their best basketball is still in front of them.

"We're in an uphill battle right now and it's not going to get any easier," Stewart said of the team's upcoming schedule.

How to watch the New York Liberty this week

The No. 5 Liberty will next take the court on Thursday, when New York will host the No. 10 Mystics at 7 PM ET.

Live coverage of the clash will air on Prime.

With the current CBA expiring in just over two months, Front Office Sports reported Monday that the prospect of the WNBA and the players' union (WNBPA) reaching a deal before the October 31st deadline is "increasingly unlikely."

"As we approach the 60-day mark, the league's lack of urgency leaves players wondering if it is focused on making this work or just running out the clock," WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson told FOS in a statement. "Fans do not want that. They are with the players in demanding a new standard for the W."

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While this year's CBA negotiations have been rocky, the inability to reach a deal in time doesn't necessarily crush the league's immediate plans.

Should they not come to an agreement, the parties will have the option to extend the original deadline in order to avoid an immediate work stoppage — so long as both the WNBA and the WNBPA sign off on the move.

There is precedent for a negotiation extension, with the WNBA and WNBPA pushing the deadline for the 2019 CBA back 60 days to allow for more time to hash out details — a move that ended in an agreement ahead of the 2020 season's free agency period.

However, the WNBA is under added pressure to turn things around.

With expansion teams in Toronto and Portland joining the league in 2026, the clock is ticking for the league to schedule and issue rules for the impending expansion draft.

Until the next CBA lays out the newly negotiated terms surrounding both expansion and free agency, the incoming Tempo and Fire will continue waiting in roster-building limbo.

Ultimately, the WNBA will do everything it can to avoid a strike, but the league will have to balance priorities as rapid growth competes with player demands.