Today, Budweiser Canada and Professional Women’s Hockey Player Association (PWHPA), have erected a temporary monument titled This Game is For Us All, calling for greater female representation in hockey and its iconography.
Aimed at sparking conversation amongst hockey fans and its supporters, the monument – located at 33 Yonge St., on the northeast corner of Front St. and Yonge St. in Toronto, ON – features a female hockey player cheering on her team from behind a 10-foot-long board. This provocative image is designed to spotlight the lack of female representation in other iconic hockey symbols, and is asking hockey fans to join the conversation online by sharing their support #FortheGame and hockey being for everyone.
“Coming off a gold medal win for Canada this summer and a woman being inducted into hockey’s history this week, there’s no denying women’s hockey continues to dominate the sport at an elite level,” said four-time Olympic Gold Medallist and current PWHPA Operations Consultant, Jayna Hefford. “However, female athletes do not receive the same visibility and funding as their male counterparts. With Budweiser’s support, we’re driving a conversation about this disparity – across from one of hockey’s most iconic buildings – and we hope that hockey fans nationally will join in the movement to get women’s hockey players more visibility, because the game should be —and is— for us all.”
In addition to its continued PWHPA sponsorship, Budweiser Canada commits to ongoing amplification of this movement, with the goal of rallying fans of the sport to show their support for greater female visibility in hockey in a variety of ways:
- Leverage Budweiser’s marketing platform to spotlight the PWHPA’s mission and brand acts,
- Promote how and when to watch PWHPA games – starting with the PWHPA’s upcoming All-Star Tour – to encourage viewership,
- Celebrate PWHPA goals as only Budweiser can, by releasing a PWHPA branded Red Light, available now for pre-order at shopbeergear.ca and working to sync Budweiser Red Light technology to PWHPA game streams,
- Work with Budweiser partner restaurants, bars and pubs to air the women’s games, and
- Encourage consumers to share their continued support #FortheGame on social.
“Budweiser has a long history of supporting hockey at all levels, but like many brands, our focus has for too long been on the male players only,” said Mike D’Agostini, Senior Marketing Director, Budweiser Canada. “We believe that the game is meant for everyone and women deserve to have equal share of the spotlight. As proud supporters of the PWHPA – and being the beer brand that brings friends together for game time – we’re committed to championing women’s hockey and helping it receive equal representation on and off the ice, because that’s what Buds do.”
More than a figurative activation, the PWHPA and Budweiser Canada hope this unique installation helps further the all-important discussion of women’s hockey being celebrated at center ice alongside their male counterparts, especially considering nearly 46 per cent of registered Canadian hockey players are female players.* In the years since the PWHPA was formed, women’s hockey has achieved some incredible feats, however there is still work to be done:
- The men’s professional hockey league secured $676 million in sponsorship money for the 2020-2021 season; and to this day there is still no viable professional women’s league here in Canada**
- The average annual salary for a male professional hockey player is $3 million USD, whereas female players will make as low as $2,000 a season***
For more information, visit Budweiser.ca/ThisGameisForUsAll.
Be sure to follow along on Instagram and Twitter, and join the conversation with the hashtag #ForTheGame.
* The Ice Garden reported on the IIHF’s current player registrations, quantifying where the women’s game is most present and most changing.
** According to CNBC the National Hockey League secured $676 million in sponsorship money for the 2020-2021 season.
***As reported by Hockey Answered, the average salary of an NHL player in 2021 was $3 million USD.
Terry Bunch