In an appearance Thursday for The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., Silver said two of the past five refs added from the developmental G-League were women, bringing the total number of female officials to three.

”It’s an area, frankly, where I’ve acknowledged that I’m not sure how it was that it remained so male-dominated for so long. Because it’s an area of the game where physically, certainly, there’s no benefit to being a man, as opposed to a woman, when it comes to refereeing,” Silver said.

”The goal is: Going forward, it should be roughly 50-50 of new officials entering in the league,” he said. ”Same for coaches, by the way. We have a program, too. There’s no reason why women shouldn’t be coaching men’s basketball.”

There has never been a female head coach in the NBA.

Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs was the league’s first full-time female assistant. Kristi Toliver worked as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards this season; she also still plays for the WNBA’s Mystics in the same city.

In December, the Indiana Pacers made Kelly Krauskopf the first woman to hold the title of assistant general manager in the NBA.

Among the other topics, he was asked about Thursday was the NBA’s one-and-done rule, and Silver reiterated that he has changed his stance on the issue and is willing to let 18-year-old players enter the league.

”I have changed my position. It’s a tough one because not all the teams agree with me on this,” Silver said, estimating that about half of the league’s clubs are in favor of the switch.

He said the NBA and the players’ union are ”in active discussions” about that policy and he said any change probably wouldn’t happen before the 2022 season. That’s because some teams already have traded away picks in upcoming drafts, and because that is the year current freshmen in high school would be eligible to head to the pros.

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League officials will meet with the International Ice Hockey Federation in New York on Wednesday. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL hopes to learn if any traction has been made between the IIHF and the International Olympic Committee with regard to potential sticking points, including money issues. NHL officials have expressed concerns that the IOC is not willing to cover out-of-pocket payments it took care of at the past five Olympics.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said those costs were upward of $10 million during a two-week hiatus next season.

”I can’t imagine the NHL owners are willing to pay for the privilege of shutting down for 17 days,” Bettman said Monday at the Prime Time Sports Management Conference in Toronto. ”I just don’t see that.”

If the IOC is not willing to figure out the expenses, Daly said, the NHL and NHL players’ association will have to jointly determine whether to proceed with participation in a sixth consecutive Winter Games.

Bettman said a decision would need to be made by early January at the latest. He also took aim at the restrictive policies of the IOC with regard to the Olympics.

”We’re not allowed to be associated with the Olympics. We’re not allowed to promote that we’re there. We’re not allowed to use the trademarks and logos. We’re not allowed to use the footage,” he said. ”The IOC says this is the way we’re going to do it. `We’re not going to pay. You can’t do this. You can’t do that.’ It doesn’t give you the warm and fuzzies.”

NHL and NHLPA officials recently visited the Olympic site in Pyeongchang, believing it to be suitable for international competition.

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