Women’s professional hockey is coming to Hockeytown, with the PWHL on Wednesday designating Detroit as the first of what could become four expansion markets for next season.
Detroit’s selection is the result of the tight relationship the PWHL has with the city’s Ilitch family, whose holdings include the Red Wings. And it reflects the success the league has enjoyed in playing four neutral-site games at the NHL team’s home.
“I think from the get-go, we have really felt the passion that this city and state have for hockey and the PWHL,” executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer told The Associated Press. “I think it’s the perfect place for us to grow.”
Detroit hosted the PWHL’s first neutral-site game during its inaugural season in 2024, which Scheer credited for inspiring the league launching its multicity “Takeover Tour” the past two years. The four games at Little Caesar’s Arena, which will serve as the team’s home, attracted a combined attendance of 53,626, including 15,938 in March in the PWHL’s first game broadcast to a U.S. national TV audience.
As a bonus, the PWHL also announced Detroit will host the league’s draft and awards ceremony in mid-June. The draft on June 17 will feature a highly anticipated class of prospects brimming with U.S. talent, including gold medal-winning Olympians in Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards, the first Black female player to represent Team USA.
Detroit’s addition grows the PWHL to nine teams, and comes a year after adding franchises in Seattle and Vancouver. And there’s more to come this spring, with the PWHL previously saying it plans to expand by between two and four markets.
Scheer would not reveal how more teams will be added, though the expectation remains four to be announced in the coming weeks.
Denver is considered a front-runner, with the PWHL targeting the city since a Takeover Tour game in January 2025 attracted 14,018 fans, who chanted “We want a team!” Another contender is Las Vegas, with the NHL’s Golden Knights having spent the past two years lobbying for a franchise.
And then there’s Hamilton, Ontario, whose potential addition would give the PWHL three teams in Ontario, rounded out by Toronto and Ottawa. Hamilton is an hour west of Toronto, and the PWHL is confident the region’s population of 570,000 is large enough to not draw fans away from the Sceptres.
The league has also expressed interest in Washington, D.C., Dallas, the Alberta cities of Calgary and Edmonton, Quebec City and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Washington and Calgary have issues regarding arena availability and space, making it difficult to fit in an extra team.
Detroit meets several key PWHL expansion criteria, with the arena having a training facility attached to it, while the city’s location helps fill the travel gap between Toronto and Minnesota.
The Motor City is home to a large corporate base, including current league partners Ally Financial and the Meijer grocery store chain.
Detroit also has a rich history of girls developmental hockey programs. Among U.S. states, Michigan ranks second behind Minnesota in producing PWHL talent.
The PWHL can boast beating the state’s colleges in adding women’s hockey. The state does not have a Division I women’s hockey team, though the University of Michigan is in discussions to establish one.
“I hope it follows, right? I hope we can be a catalyst to continue to grow the game here,” PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said. “We’re excited about the impact we’re going to be able to have here in Detroit on hockey in general, but certainly on women’s hockey.”
The yet-to-be named team’s primary colors will be black and silver, with a red accent in a nod to the Red Wings. The jerseys will also feature an Ally Financial patch.
“Bringing a PWHL team to Little Caesars Arena is an exciting next step for our city and for the continued momentum of women’s hockey,” said Chris Ilitch, CEO of Ilitch Companies, which also owns baseball’s Detroit Tigers. “This moment also reflects our broader vision of using sports as a catalyst for Detroit’s revitalization.”
The latest round of expansion comes during the Walter Cup playoffs and the league enjoying a major boost following the Milan Cortina Olympics.
The PWHL’s 120-game regular-season schedule attracted more than 1.1 million fans, representing a 28% jump over last year and marked the first time the league topped 1 million in one season. Online merchandise sales surged by more than 50% over last season, including a 190% jump following the Olympics as compared to the same period a year ago.
The league’s YouTube channel’s viewership increased by 77% this year, and now reaches 154 countries.
Adding three U.S. markets to its four existing American cities — rounded out by Newark, New Jersey, and Boston — would better position the PWHL to land a U.S. national broadcast partnership.
This season, Scripps Sports agreed to broadcast various games, including the playoffs, on ION, which is accessible to 126 million American households. League and Scripps officials have expressed interest in establishing a more permanent partnership for next season.
The PWHL is centrally controlled and privately backed by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and wife Kimbra, who have invested hundreds of millions of dollars.
Scheer said this round of expansion before Season 4 meets the Walters’ vision in building a sustainable league.
“While it might be fast in terms of the way other leagues have done things, for us it’s measured and calculated,” Scheer said. “So we feel good at the pace that we’re moving, and feel confident in the way we’re growing. We’ll be here for a while.”
AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey
FILE - Fans gather to watch the Montreal Victoire and the Toronto Sceptres warm up before a PWHL hockey game in Vancouver, Jan. 8, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
