Six Potential Locations for PWHL Expansion Teams

The PWHL announced that they have started the process of expansion, with two new teams on the way for the 2025-2026 season. Here’s a look at some potential locations.

The PWHL announced on Tuesday that they are starting the process of expanding from six to eight teams as early as the 2025-2026 season. Applicants looking to jockey for a spot as one of those two expansion teams will have the opportunity to submit proposals to the league, and decisions on which cities have been chosen are expected next year.

The league has made public the criteria it is prioritizing when considering proposals. They will evaluate a market’s size, existing infrastructure, economic opportunity, community fanbase, and youth hockey presence. They are sure to also take into account the geography of any potential expansion location and its logistical implications, as five of the six existing PWHL franchises are in the Northeast. 

According to PWHL Senior VP for Business Operations Amy Scheer, the league has targeted more than 20 markets as potential candidates for expansion. That list will eventually be whittled down to two, so which cities have the strongest case?

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh was the location of one of the two neutral-site games that took place during the PWHL’s inaugural season. The game between Toronto and Montreal was held at PPG Paints Arena, the home of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, and saw 8,850 fans in attendance. Pittsburgh has the local economy to support a new team and is somewhat untapped as a market for women’s sports—neither the WNBA nor the NWSL have a franchise in the city. In terms of youth hockey, Pittsburgh also has the Penguins Girls Elite Hockey program.

Pittsburgh has also shown interest in bringing a women’s hockey team to the city: Fenway Sports Group, the owner of the Penguins, has expressed a desire to bring a PWHL team. The Penguins organization has even made plans to expand the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township, PA with the possibility in mind of it serving as the home to a PWHL team in the future.

Detroit

Detroit was the other host of a neutral site game between Ottawa and Boston during the 2024 season. The game had record-breaking attendance with 13,736 fans packing Little Caesars Arena, home to the Detroit Red Wings. Michigan is a hotbed for hockey in the United States and produces elite hockey talent regularly. Geographically, Detroit would also provide a closer neighbor for the Minnesota Frost; currently, the Toronto Sceptres are the nearest other team at over 900 miles away. Detroit’s proximity to hundreds of thousands of Canadian fans within driving distance is also an asset. 

The biggest concern for Detroit, though certainly not an insurmountable one, is venue availability. Little Caesars Arena is already home to the Red Wings and the Detroit Pistons, so it may be difficult for a potential expansion team to jockey for space on the calendar. It’s not an insurmountable obstacle—both Minnesota and New York will share their home venues with NHL teams this season—but will certainly be a consideration. 

Chicago

There would be many advantages to introducing an expansion team in Chicago. It is the third largest city in the United States while also being close to other significant markets like Milwaukee and Indianapolis. It has a strong local economy which would provide ample opportunity for sponsorships. There are multiple venue options in the city including United Center, which houses Chicago’s NHL and NBA teams, and Allstate Arena, which serves as the home to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.

Another advantage of Chicago is that, even more so than Detroit, it offers proximity to Minnesota. The Frost currently have to deal with an extensive travel schedule to reach the comparatively close-together teams to the east, but Chicago is only a 90-minute flight from Minneapolis. One has to imagine that this will be an important factor in selecting the locations for new expansion teams.

Québec City

Quebéc City, of all the markets vying for consideration for an expansion team, has certainly been one of the loudest about wanting it. The city has not had a professional hockey team since the departure of the Québec Nordiques in 1995. The league has already announced that a neutral-site game will be held at the Videotron Centre in January, which will serve as a potential test run of how an expansion team there might perform. The Videotron Centre also offers an ideal option for a venue as it does not currently have a professional tenant.

The desire on the part of the city to welcome a PWHL team is shared by its residents as well. Like most places in Canada, hockey is an inextricable part of the culture, and there is little doubt that fans would show up for a potential team. The enthusiasm with which Québec City has campaigned for a team may also serve to quell doubts about the size of the market; its metropolitan area population is just over 800,000, which would be the only city in the league with a metro population below one million. 

Halifax

The Maritime Provinces of Canada also do not currently have an NHL team, so any PWHL expansion team there would be filling a gap in the market in that sense. Halifax being the largest city in the Maritimes makes it the most obvious candidate. Scotiabank Centre, where the Halifax Mooseheads play, would be a good option for a venue; it seats 10,500 and is conveniently located in downtown Halifax. The Mooseheads averaged over 7,000 fans per game in attendance during the 2023-2024 season – that fanbase could be something the PWHL can tap into for an expansion team.

The largest obstacle when it comes to a Halifax expansion team is travel logistics. Not all existing PWHL markets have direct flights to Halifax, and as the league does not currently charter flights, this would add time and cost to traveling between cities. The other side of this, though, is that it would provide an opportunity to attend games for PWHL fans in the Maritimes who may not be able to travel to other cities.

Vancouver

This is a bit of a wild card pick, and probably the least likely of any of these options. Vancouver is quite a distance from the existing teams, and the league may choose to delay expanding to the west coast until they can support the development of a full “western conference”. Travel times for a Vancouver PWHL team would be challenging, and the costs would be high.

That said, Vancouver is a good enough candidate in other ways that it isn’t unthinkable the league might choose to take the risk. It is a very large city with a strong economy to support a team through sponsorships. Vancouver regularly produces top-tier hockey talents including up-and-comer Chloe Primerano, who many are expecting to see as a top draft pick for the PWHL in a few years. There are ample options for venues, including Rogers Arena where the Vancouver Canucks play. Logistics aside, it’s hard to think that the league won’t at least consider Vancouver as an option, for the future if not for the first round of expansion.