When the Ottawa Charge announced their move to Canadian Tire Centre and the Boston Fleet decided on their relocation to Agganis Arena beginning next season, the decisions appeared to tell two very different stories.

Ottawa is moving into one of the largest buildings in the league, more than doubling its seating capacity by leaving TD Place for the 18,655-seat home of the NHL's Senators. Boston, meanwhile, is trading the Tsongas Center in Lowell for the slightly smaller 6,150-seat Agganis Arena on the campus of Boston University.

One move is about adding seats. The other is about bringing the team closer to its fans.

Three years ago, the league was simply trying to establish six franchises and find suitable venues. Today, after surpassing one million regular-season fans for the first time, teams are making long-term decisions about where they believe they can best grow their footprints.

After averaging 5,448 fans per game during its inaugural season, that figure climbed to 7,260 in Season 2 before reaching 9,304 across 120 regular-season games in Season 3. More than 1.1 million fans attended PWHL games this past season, reinforcing that the league's rapid expansion extends well beyond adding four new franchises.

Those attendance figures help explain why so many organizations are now embracing larger venues.

By next season, eight of the league's 12 teams will play primarily in NHL arenas or NHL-calibre buildings with capacities exceeding 16,000 seats. Expansion franchises in Detroit, Las Vegas, San Jose and Seattle will all call major league arenas home, joining Ottawa, Minnesota and New York. Hamilton's newly renovated TD Coliseum, while not home to an NHL club, also offers more than 16,000 seats following its $300-million renovation.

Toronto and Montréal continue to chart a different course. Rather than moving into NHL buildings, both have found success in the American Hockey League homes of the Toronto Marlies and Laval Rocket, respectively, where packed crowds have helped create some of the league's strongest atmospheres. Boston will become the lone PWHL team playing in a university arena when it moves to Agganis Arena for the 2026-27 season.

Yet bigger isn't always better.

Toronto and Montréal have demonstrated that consistently filling mid-sized venues can create some of the league's most electric atmospheres. The Sceptres have regularly sold out Coca-Cola Coliseum, while the Victoire have nearly filled Place Bell on a nightly basis and periodically expanded to the Bell Centre for marquee matchups.

TEAM HOME ARENAS:

New York's path has been the league's most unconventional. During the inaugural season, the franchise split its home schedule among UBS Arena on Long Island, Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Conn., and Prudential Center in Newark, making it difficult to establish a consistent home identity.

The Sirens committed to Prudential Center as their full-time home the following season, but attendance remained among the league's lowest. That began to change in 2025-26. A surge of interest following the Milano Cortina Olympics, combined with the franchise's first-ever game at Madison Square Garden—which drew a sold-out crowd of 18,006 and set a U.S. attendance record for a women's hockey game—helped lift the team's profile. By season's end, the Sirens had increased their average attendance by roughly 45 percent over the previous year, suggesting the market may finally be gaining traction after a difficult start.

Boston is betting that accessibility matters just as much as capacity.

Although the Fleet's attendance increased in each of their first three seasons at the Tsongas Center, many fans felt the drive to Lowell made weeknight games difficult, particularly for supporters living in Boston. Agganis Arena keeps the capacity relatively similar but places the team in the heart of the city, closer to public transit, universities and a much larger population base.

Ottawa faces almost the opposite challenge.

TD Place provided an intimate atmosphere and produced the franchise's highest average attendance this past season, but the Charge had little room to accommodate additional demand. Canadian Tire Centre offers more than twice as many seats but requires fans to travel farther to Kanata, particularly those coming from central Ottawa. The organization is betting that increased capacity and the opportunities that come with an NHL venue will outweigh the longer commute for some supporters.

Those contrasting decisions illustrate that there is no single blueprint for success in the PWHL.

Seattle immediately averaged nearly 13,000 fans in its inaugural season at Climate Pledge Arena, while Vancouver drew more than 11,000 per game at Pacific Coliseum. 

Every market presents different opportunities and challenges.

Some franchises are betting on the prestige and revenue potential of NHL arenas. Others are prioritizing atmosphere, accessibility or historic hockey surroundings. Rather than following a single model, the PWHL's arena landscape has become a reflection of each market's unique identity.

As the league enters its fourth season, the question is no longer where teams can play. It's where they can thrive.

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