Visitors to the website of the fledgling National Women's Hockey League view a 45-second video that ends with a bold pronouncement in block letters: "History Begins October 2015."

That is when the American answer to the Canadian Women's Hockey League plans to open its inaugural season. Founded by a former women's hockey player at Northeastern University who owns a coffee shop in New York City, the four-team NWHL -- no relation to a previous Canadian-based league with the same name -- claims to address all of the CWHL's deficiencies.

And here's the big one: League founder and commissioner Dani Rylan says players will be paid.

Not a lot -- $10,000 at minimum for the season, with average salaries about $15,000, Rylan said. If that happens, it's a significant step up from the CWHL, which does not pay its players. The league champion Boston Blades went so far as to ask players to contribute $350 each toward the mandatory $35,000 league fee to compete for the Clarkson Cup.

"This is a different business model," Rylan said in a telephone interview from New York. "We're concentrating in the U.S. We did our research and decided there's a different way to do things."

Whether Rylan has the cash and wherewithal to pull this off remains unclear. Rylan said the league will largely rely on donations and sponsorships for revenue, and she already has pledges for most of the money to fund the first season. But except for a travel deal with US Coachways, a charter bus company based in Staten Island, New York, she declined to identify investors or sponsors. Rylan said she spent more than a year soliciting contributions.

"We look forward to announcing all of these when the deals are completely inked," she said.

Until she does, prospective players are wary. In a statement late last month, the CWHL said it would take "all necessary steps and measures to protect its interests," which sounded ominous. No players have publicly committed to the new league, and Rylan would not identify any who may have contacted her.

A player agent who asked not to be identified said he advised his clients to steer clear of the league until Rylan reveals funding details. The four-page prospectus Rylan sent to U.S. national team players and selected others described a $270,000 salary cap per team but offered no details about investors.

The prospectus spelled out the league's four franchises and home rinks: The New York Riveters, out of Twin Rinks Ice Center in East Meadow, New York; the Boston Pride at Allied Veterans Rink in Everett, Massachusetts; the Buffalo Beauts at the HarborCenter in downtown Buffalo; and the Connecticut Whale at Chelsea Piers in Stamford, Connecticut.

(The last one required permission. Rylan said the Baldwin family, former owners of the NHL's Hartford Whalers, OK'd the use of the Whalers name and colors. "All it took was a 45-second phone call," she said.)