• by Tanya Gazdik , January 29, 2021

Discover Financial Services, a longtime sponsor of the National Hockey League, is now expanding its support of the sport to the National Women’s Hockey League.

The partnership is the largest in NWHL history and includes Discover becoming the Official Credit Card of the NWHL.

The partnership with Discover is a significant step for the NWHL, which designates 50% of league sponsorship revenue to help increase player salaries, said NWHL Commissioner Tyler Tumminia. 

"This will be a collaboration to push for progress and we look forward to working with our new partner as the NWHL continues to grow,” Tumminia says in a release. 

The sponsorship was facilitated by Twitch, the live-streaming partner of the NWHL, with help from Discover’s agency, Spark Foundry.

Securing sponsors of the NWHL is a “mission-driven initiative,” said Lou Garate, global head of sponsorship sales at Twitch. 

“Discover supports hockey at all levels, and this partnership helps promote women’s professional hockey in the drive for wage parity in sports,” Garate says in a statement. “We’re looking forward to more brands following their lead in supporting this important cause.”

Established in 2015, the NWHL was the first professional women’s hockey league in North America to pay its players.

Discover has on-ice advertising during the NWHL’s regular season and 2021 Isobel Cup Playoffs taking place Jan. 23 through Feb. 5 at the 1980 Rink-Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York. The brand is also the presenting sponsor of the Isobel Cup, signifying the first time a professional women’s hockey league will be broadcast on a major U.S. cable channel.

The NWHL’s Isobel Cup Semifinals (Feb. 4) and Isobel Cup Final (Feb. 5) will be broadcast live by NBC Sports on NBCSN.