While some fans who have latched on to the Boston Fleet as a staple in Lowell, Massachusetts are devastated by the league officially moving to the team into Boston, the Fleet were never staying in Lowell, and this is a best case scenaio for the PWHL.
The PWHL was never staying in Lowell.
Boston was always the plan, and the move to Agganis Arena is one that fits every hope and plan the PWHL has had, and is a best case scenario for the league.
Lowell was an incredible host for the PWHL, temporarily, with the 6,500 seat Tsongas Center and a vibrant group of supporters. But it wasn't enough, nor would it ever be in Lowell.
The commute was perhaps the biggest issue for fans of the Boston Fleet, and potential fans. Making the often more than an hour trek to Lowell from Boston itself was never ideal, and a clear dissuader for ticket sales. And Lowell itself, with a population of only 120,000, was not a market that alone could support the Fleet. The Fleet need Boston, and Boston needs the Fleet.
Boston's attendance hasn't grown at the same rate the rest of the league has experienced either. Alongside the New York Sirens, Boston has remained near the bottom of the PWHL's attendance numbers.
The Fleet this season averaged 4,885 fans at Tsongas in eight games. But the league believes that number is low for the Fleet, and that the bulk of the PWHL's stops at Agganis, which have drawn closer to 6,000 aside from an early season aberration last year, will be a positive for the league.
Tsongas took time to grow, and there's believe it's grown as far as the PWHL can go an hour outside the market the team is intended to represent. During the inaugural season, the PWHL had a 44-day stretch where Boston played only one home game at Tsongas, and that game drew only 2,854 fans.
This season, the signs were there. Boston spent five games away from the Tsongas Center playing only eight games total in Lowell in a 30 game season. Of the Fleet's top eight attended regular season games from the last two seasons, four game from Agganis, one at TD Garden, and only three from Tsongas.
It is nothing against Lowell, a city that's been a gracious host for the Fleet, and it's possible the Fleet make a visit to Lowell for a game in the future, but the Boston Fleet are a Boston team, and belong in Boston.
The benefits for the Fleet at Agganis are immense. Not only is it closer to the Fleet's main population base, but it's on an easy path for public transit. The ease of the fan base at Agganis, is significant. The downside is the league isolating foundational fans in Lowell who spent multiple seasons supporting the upstart team and league, but the PWHL, via expansion, is now only eyeing future success and growth. The league has made venue changes in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, and now Boston. Only the Minnesota Frost remain in their original venue from the league's founding season, with Seattle and Vancouver returning to the same venues they started in last season.
The league itself did not predict the success they'd have in terms of attendance, and ensuring that all teams are beginning to settle in their forever venues.
In Boston, finally moving into the city itself, especially after the success of the Fleet at TD Garden, and on the ice as a top two team this season in the standings, is a best case scenario.
