The 2025-26 PWHL regular season schedule was received with excitement across the league with fans celebrating another year of professional women's hockey.
There were however, a noticeable number of complaints stemming from fans of the Boston Fleet. On the ice, the Fleet are expected to struggle this season, picked by most to be a team that falls outside of playoff contention. The team lost several key members of their roster from last season including captain and league leading scorer Hilary Knight, and first round pick and USA national team member Hannah Bilka in the expansion process.
Off the ice, the Fleet are beginning to witness a divided fan base. The two groups include those who want the team to remain in Lowell, Massachusetts, and those who want the team permanently planted within Boston itself.
Last season Boston averaged 4,587 fans. Two of those games came at Agganis Arena in Boston, where the team drew 6,028 fans and 5,968 fans. The tallies were Boston's second and third highest attended home games last season, topped only by a February 16 game at Tsongas against the Minnesota Frost that drew 6,032 fans. Boston's average of 4,587 fans was fifth overall in the league ahead of only the New York Sirens.
Divided 2025-26 Season Upsets Some
This year the PWHL has divided Boston's home schedule in three ways. One is four home games to be played at Agganis Arena in Boston. The second includes eight home games scheduled for the Tsongas Center in Lowell. Finally, there are three Boston home games still listed as "too be determined" for location and time on the PWHL's schedule.
New York initially played a schedule like Boston's in the PWHL's inaugural season, but Boston is the only remaining team in the PWHL with a split of home games between local venues. Many believe the PWHL is looking to permanently move the team to Agganis to house the Fleet within Boston and closer to a larger population base. If this season's games at Agganis draw similar numbers to last year, the move would make sense to join Boston University's men's team as tenants at Agganis.
Gaps In The Schedule Concern Fans
While many of the initial concerns with Lowell were that it can often take as long as 1.5 hours to navigate traffic from Boston to Lowell, season ticket holders are now more concerned about having to make that trip whether they're located in Lowell or Boston for a portion of the season. The other concern is the significant gap in the schedule that exists for fans who have come to know Lowell as the Fleet's home.
After opening the season in Lowell on November 23, 2025, the Fleet don't return to the Tsongas Center for 52 days, until the team welcomes Toronto on January 14, 2026. Given the last Boston Fleet game in 2024-25 was held May 3 at Tsongas, it means the city of Lowell will only witness one Fleet game in more than eight months.
After another game at Tsongas on January 28, the team doesn't return to Lowell again until March 21, 2026. In total, it equates to the Fleet playing only two games at their primary venue in a 10.5 month stretch. It's a virtually unheard of situation in professional sport.
Does Agganis Make Sense?
While attendance in Lowell has been better than anticipated, moving the Boston Fleet into Boston is a no brainer for the league. In terms of branding, the Fleet would face the same limitations at the Boston University owned Agganis as they do in Lowell, but all the benefits of easier transit, shorter commutes for fans, and a venue that resides in the metropolitan market that the team is named for. If this team were the "New England Fleet" or the "Lowell Fleet," a long term home outside the city could make sense, but it is the Boston Fleet, and if fans show up at Agganis as they did in 2024-25, finding a way to move the Fleet to the rink permanently.