The Best Way to Prevent Tanking in Sports? Look at the PWHL

There’s an old adage that says: you don’t get fired for buying IBM.

Essentially, this means that if you just do what everyone else is doing, although you may not innovate, you won’t stand out so much that you cost yourself any opportunities, either.

But we know that breaking the mold, especially in decision making and in game theory, can lead to some pretty amazing results.

Take the rapid expansion of women’s sports as an example. The fact that each league gets to think of themselves as a start-up has allowed for new approaches to old problems, as we are seeing from the NWSL, the PWHL, the WNBA, the LPGA, the WPL, etc.

Far and away, my favorite sporting innovation comes from the Professional Women’s Hockey League in the way they handle draft position.

First, let’s start with the problem: at the end of the season in any sport, the top teams want to win games in order to win that league’s championship. The bottom teams have a different decision to make. If they are eliminated from contention to play in the playoffs (or whatever postseason structure they have), they are considering ways to maximize their prospects for future seasons.

In most leagues, this means that they are thinking about how to improve their standing in the next season’s draft for new players, and the draft positions favor the lower-ranked teams. Putting this all together, losing at the end of the season when you don’t have a chance to win it all, means you are better off since you will be higher on the draft list, and can pick up the best talent available. (Or trade your draft picks to other teams, but that amounts to the same benefit of improving your future position.)

The outcome of this system is that the “inconsequential,” late in the season games are boring for fans as teams actually have an incentive to lose.  

The PWHL has shifted this paradigm by changing the incentives so that the teams that are not going to win that season’s championship still want to win each game.

The way they have done this is straightforward. Using a “draft order points” system to award points to teams once they are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, the teams struggling the most start accumulating points earlier in the season than the teams with stronger records. Those boring late-in-the-season games suddenly become must-wins to preserve draft seeding.

The way the system works is that, after being eliminated from contention:

• Every subsequent win in regulation = 3 points
• Win in overtime or a shootout = 2 points
• Loss in overtime or a shootout = 1 point
• Losing in regulation doesn’t add any additional draft order points.

The league is still small with just six teams, so most made it to the playoffs and their draft order was then determined by their regular season standings. As the league grows – there will be two new teams in the 2025-26 season, with more being contemplated – this “draft order point” process will have even more impact.

Other leagues should take note (and should blatantly copy this fantastic structure). The PWHL’s innovative draft order points system not only keeps late-season games exciting, but also ensures that teams remain competitive throughout the season. This forward-thinking approach is a game-changer that other leagues should consider adopting to enhance the overall fan experience and maintain the integrity of the sport. At the end of the day, “buying IBM” might keep you safe, but it is bold moves like this that drive progress and excitement.