The PWHL brought a rematch of the 2025 Walter Cup finals to Chicago, but Chicago responded with a record low attendance for a PWHL Takeover Tour game, and a draw that fell below the league's current average for this season. Did Chicago's expansion hopes take a hit?
For the 7,238 fans in attendance at the first American stop of the 2025-26 PWHL Takeover Tour in Chicago, Illinois, it was an exciting day of professional women't hockey. Fans were treated to a 3-2 overtime rematch of the 2025 Walter Cup finals with the Ottawa Charge earning the win over the Minnesota Frost.
While the PWHL brought their best to Chicago, Chicago's turnout may not have been enough to convince the PWHL it's a viable market.
Chicago's attendance was the worst ever recorded in the now 13 game history of the Takeover Tour. That spans to the Takeover weekend games in year one in Detroit and Pittsburgh, to the nine city tour last season, and this year's first stop which took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In Halifax, a city with just over 500,000 people in their metropolitan area, their first of two stops sold out in under an hour with 10,438 attending the game. Chicago, with a metropolitan population of more than nine million, failed to force the PWHL to open the majority of the upper deck for sales at Allstate Arena.
The game also fell below the PWHL's attendance average this season, a number that has been dragged down by the poor performance of the New York market for the third straight season where the Sirens are averaging only 2,972 through three games. Despite New York anchoring the league's attendance average, the PWHL-wide figure still sits at 7,965 though 25 games, excluding the Chicago attendance. On the same day in Seattle, the expansion Torrent drew 11,023 fans for a home game at Climate Pledge Arena.
During the 2024-25 season, five of the nine PWHL Takeover Tour games drew more than 14,000 fans including crowds of 19,038 (Vancouver), 18,259 (Quebec City), 17,518 (Edmonton), 14,288 (Detroit), and 14,018 (Denver).
The least attended PWHL Takeover Tour games last season came in St. Louis (8,578) and Buffalo (8,512). Following those results, Buffalo and St. Louis were almost unanimously written out of PWHL expansion plans in the immediate future.
Unfortunately, there is now a new Takeover Tour low figure that belongs to Chicago. The league has stated they plan to stick to a similar timeline for their next round of expansion to what they did this year with Seattle and Vancouver, which means no final decision will come on whether or not the PWHL sees a future in Chicago until the spring.
What Did The Players Say?
The PWHL Takeover Tour remains one of the league's most impactful events for showcasing professional women's hockey to new fans, and young girls across North America. For Kendall Coyne Schofield and Taylor House, two Illinois products who played in the game, it was a special moment, and a unique opportunity to grow the game.
“I thought about today and what it would have meant if I had the opportunity to come here as an eight, nine, 10-year-old little girl, to see this and dream about it. How special it was today to see the arena filled with boys and girls, knowing that they now will have that same dream to grow up and be a professional hockey player, if they're good enough to do so, and they can do so," Minnesota captain Coyne Schofield said. "Obviously not the result we wanted, but at the end of the day, I think it was a win for the sport. It's a win for society. I just was so proud to be able to be a part of bringing professional hockey here to Chicago.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Taylor House. And while the attendance was low by the PWHL's new standard, it was still a crowd some thought impossible only three years ago.
“It’s huge to have the chance to play in front of your home fans and being given the chance to grow the game here and see how far it’s come since I’ve even played here," said the Ottawa Charge forward. "There are so many more girls' teams around. It was pretty special to see the turnout for this. We felt the energy. The lower bowl was fully packed. Chicago was excited for this hockey, and it showed today.”
Venues Remain A Focus For The PWHL
It's not surprising the PWHL had interest in testing Allstate Arena, located in the village of Rosemont, part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The arena has a capacity of 16,692 for hockey and is used primarily by the AHL's Chicago Wolves, meaning the PWHL would have an opportunity to share tenancy in a venue where they could potentially add branding. Rosemont also recently built a state-of-the-art practice facility that is used not only by the Wolves, but almost all of Chicago's girls hockey organizations.
Rosemont could present the challenge of limited accessibility via public transit, and additional commute time from the city center. It's been an issue in other markets such as Lowell for the Boston Fleet and Newark for the New York Sirens.
Chicago has another chance to rewrite the script in March, when they host their second PWHL Takeover Tour game, although early sales for that contest remain slim.
While Chicago is not off the table, the door is now wide open for Denver and Detroit who have already proven their ability to draw crowds for the league. To date, no Canadian Takeover Tour game has drawn under 10,000 fans.