As Vani Hanamirian writes, Philadelphia–a city that the PWHL has not visited or test-run through the Takeover Tour–still belongs in the conversation for possible expansion.
Philadelphia deserves to be considered in the PWHL expansion.
As the league hints at yet another expansion, they would be remiss not to consider Philadelphia as an expansion city.
I have strongly advocated for Philadelphia since the league began discussing expansion. The league would be making a colossal mistake skipping out on adding a team in arguably one of the best sports cities in North America.
If asked to name the top sports cities in North America, typically the first few cities named will be Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia (in no particular order).
Los Angeles isn’t a hockey city, so take that out of the equation. Of the remaining four sports cities, two have a PWHL team, while one has been identified as a Takeover Tour stop, and one has been ignored.
Boston and New York have had PWHL teams since the league's inception.
Two games will be played in Chicago for the PWHL Takeover Tour this season, the first on December 21, featuring Ottawa vs Minnesota, and the second on March 25th, featuring Seattle and New York.
No rumors, rumblings, or whispers have been made regarding Philadelphia having a PWHL team or even hosting a game.
That is a mistake.
Philadelphia is a hockey town. It all started with the 1967 Expansion Draft, when the Broad Street Bullies came to town, winning two Stanley Cup championships in ‘74 and ‘75, and more. The gritty team reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1980, 1985, 1987, 1997, and 2010.
The city flooded Broad Street as they dedicated their hearts to the team that brought a championship to the city. Reportedly, two million people watched as Bernie Parent and Bobby Clarke paraded down the street with the cup. The following year, the team broke that record, with 2.4 million people attending the two-time champions.
Joe Watson shared his perspective on the first cup with NHL.com.
"Back in that first year, we didn't know if there'd even be a second year," Watson recalled. "We had maybe a dozen people who stood to watch that parade. The majority didn't show up for the reception at City Hall. Later that season, part of the roof blew off at the Spectrum. We were like a bunch of vagabonds the rest of the season. So when we won the Stanley Cup seven years later, and there were two million people on Broad Street, it was like there had been a miracle in seven years."
Bernie masks were sold on street corners, bumper stickers were seen around the city with the message “only the Lord saves more than Bernie," and the city backed the team wholeheartedly.
Hockey is in the blood of Philadelphia residents.
The Flyers haven’t had such luck since. The team has struggled but still maintains a loyal fanbase throughout its rebuild and restructuring.
Philadelphia craves winning hockey.
Take the Philadelphia 76ers, for example. The team has been horrific, the players have failed to perform, and the basketball team has all but been booed out of the city.
However, when the city announced that Philadelphia would be getting a WNBA team, sports radio stations were speculating the name of the new team, and fans quickly made shirts supporting the team, reading "Philly is a Women's Sports Town" [Jen Leary, WatchPartyPhl].
The team will not be coming to Philadelphia until 2030.
Unrivaled Basketball announced an event in Philadelphia for their 3-on-3 women’s basketball tournament.
In the first 30 minutes after the tickets dropped, 5,000 tickets had sold.
“I’m so excited to be back home in Philly,” said Natasha Cloud, an Unrivaled player and St. Joseph’s University alum, told PGN.com.
“We’ve already sold about 5,000 tickets since the announcement — but that’s not enough. We need to sell out Xfinity Mobile Arena and show everyone why this is the best sports town in the world.”
The PWHL averaged 6,520 fans per game across all teams in both the United States and Canada.
The league has seen specific markets struggle to maintain consistent attendance. Even in the Philadelphia Flyers' worst season, when the team went 22-48-12, the average attendance was 19,282 per game.
The Philadelphia area has also produced three current PWHL players: Boston Fleet’s Hadley Hartmetz is from Phoenixville, PA; Minnesota Frost’s Ava Rinker is from Elverson, PA; and the Montreal Victoire’s Dara Greig is from Camden, NJ.
Philly has proved to be a sports city, its residents have shown an interest in hockey, established the need for good hockey after years of watching the Flyers, and demonstrated that an interest in women’s sports is there.
So why would the PWHL not consider Philadelphia?
At least give the city a Takeover game so they can prove why Philadelphia is the perfect place for the next expansion.