Detroit getting pro women's hockey team? What we know about the rumors
The PWHL has made tour stops to Detroit four times in the last three years and there's buzz the city could get a full-time team.
Is a professional women’s hockey team coming to Detroit? The answer is not fully clear yet, but the buzz for Hockeytown to get a Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) team very soon is real. Denise Ilitch, who's family owns the Detroit Red Wings , the Tigers and Little Caesars Arena (her brother Christopher Ilitch runs the day-to-day operations), predicted the PWHL was coming to Detroit earlier this year.
"I believe we'll be getting a team in Detroit soon, which really excites me," Ilitch said on her "Denise Ilitch Show" podcast on March 31. MORE WOMEN'S SPORTS: MHSAA says girls sports helped drive attendance growth: What the numbers show Ilitch also serves on the Board of Regents at the University of Michigan and has been a strong advocate for a U-M women's hockey team in recent years. Media reports from the New York Times and The Hockey News also indicate that Detroit may be next in line for an expansion team, after the league added two teams last month in Seattle and Vancouver.
The league is looking to 2-4 teams by 2026-27. The PWHL has made tour stops to Detroit four times in the last three years and some of the best women's hockey players in the nation are from Michigan, including Megan Keller, who was the hero for Team USA women's hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics. During the 2023-24 season, 13,736 hockey fans set an attendance record at the time for a professional women's hockey game in the United States.
The PWHL, which celebrated its first season in 2023-24, has gained extra interest since the 2026 Winter Olympics. If Detroit got a PWHL team, some fans hope that could push the University of Michigan and Michigan State University to eventually add Division I women's hockey programs. The league's last appearance in Detroit on March 28, 2026, featured a 3-1 Montreal Victoire win over the New York Sirens in front of 15,938 fans at Little Caesars Arena.