Women's pro hockey is coming to Hockeytown with PWHL adding expansion franchise in Detroit
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 . Plans to add up to four teams 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.
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