When it comes to PWHL expansion, only four new markets were successful in winning PWHL teams - Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas, and San Jose. For those who failed, they just weren't willing to offer what the PWHL wanted and needed.
When it came to the PWHL's expansion plans for the 2026-27 season, it was about finding the correct ingredients. In the end, only four markets were willing or able to put together what the PWHL needed and wanted from a partner.
Those ingredients were found in Detroit, Hamilton, Las Vegas, and San Jose.
There were at least a dozen markets speculated as candidates that were inevitably unsuccessful in securing a team. In some of those markets, expansion was never on the table.
Takeover Tour Was Never For Expansion
The PWHL does not operate the PWHL Takeover Tour for expansion purposes. It's a welcomed side effect, but it was never the root. The league has talked about how some markets have thrust themselves into the expansion conversation through the Takeover Tour, and that it does give them the ability to assess markets, but it's never explicitly been the purpose of the Tour.
In fact, when Amy Scheer discussed the 2026 Takeover Tour, and how it grew last season, she said the tour served in "giving fans across North America the chance to experience the excitement of a regular-season game in their home venues."
Undoubtedly, with the PWHL being open about their goal of a rapid expansion, the cities named this season for the Tour were considered frontrunners. Two of those markets, Detroit and Hamilton, earned expansion teams, but the others did not. That included Denver, Halifax, Chicago and Edmonton who each had two Takeover Tour games this year.
As we've learned however, there are already discussions underway for markets with no intention to join the league in the immediate future looking to host two, or even three Takeover Tour games next season and the year after.
Because the fact is, the PWHL Takeover Tour will continue next season, and the league has no intention to expand again after next season. While the Takeover Tour was beneficial to the expansion process its primary goal was to bring the league's product and stars to markets who may not otherwise get to see the league. It grows the league's fan base, sells more tickets than average games, benefits broadcasting, and sells merchandise; all crucial components of the league's business plan.
But no market deserved an expansion team simply because of Takeover Tour attendance. Choosing suitable markets was about far more than selling tickets.
One market looking for more Takeover Tour games, because they can do just that, sell tickets, and grow the game in the process, is Washington. Washington set an American attendance record this year before it was broken again at a sold out Madison Square Garden game later in the season. Washington was also a market that was out early from expansion talks...
Some Markets Weren't In The Mix
As reports have shown, some markets, like Calgary and Washington were never contenders for PWHL expansion despite strong showings on the Takeover Tour at the box office.
Calgary did not submit a bid. With only one suitable venue in the city, which already has an NHL, AHL, and WHL team, among other events and tenants, it wasn't logistically possible. Others, like Washington, have openly said they won't have a PWHL team until the league's single-entity ownership model changes and they can own a franchise. Washington did say they'd like to add more Takeover Tour games the next two seasons. Ownership was a point that caused other markets to drop out.
It's believed there was a similar issue in Edmonton, and that negotiations in Quebec City may have got off on the wrong foot, potentially related to a desire for ownership, or a topic like media rights from Quebecor, who owns the Videotron Centre.
But these weren't the only roadblocks. NHL markets on both sides of the border had varying degrees of interest and willingness to not be the only show in town, particularly without full control of an incoming PWHL team and their schedule.
NHL teams as landlords for a PWHL team came with various discusses around giving dedicated space, priority home dates, and have flexibility in scheduling. From the PWHL it involved the desire to have some priority in date selection ahead of even NHL teams themselves, and also to choose what side of a double header they were on if NHL and PWHL teams had to use the same venue on the same date.
In some cases, the NHL team wouldn't budge, and the discussion never got going. In others, the PWHL was unwilling to feast on scraps, or accept second best for players and fans.
Then there were markets like Detroit, where the NHL ownership group jumped on board instantly, and made it clear they'd do what was needed to welcome a PWHL franchise, treat the players as professionals, and the league as true partners. Without ownership, it's was a business decision, one that worked for some markets, and didn't for others.
In the United States, busy venues and NHL partnerships couldn't be worked around in Denver and Dallas, and Chicago was never really in the picture despite having Allstate Arena ready to be used. There was little to no communication with the NHL's Blackhawks, and Rosemont presented similar concerns to what fans have discussed in Lowell, Bridgeport, and Newark. And in Chicago's case, the lack of attendance for Takeover Tour stops probably didn't help.
Venue was likely the crux of Halifax's bid. Recent reports have shown that the aging Scotiabank Centre needs "significant investments." Seeing how TD Place in Ottawa played out, the PWHL would have been playing with fire in Halifax, and without another venue in the market capable of housing the team like there was in Ottawa. Halifax will undoubtedly spend whatever is needed to rejuvenate Scotiabank Centre, but in Hamilton, TD Coliseum, which at 40-years old is 10 years newer than Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, cost $300 million to revitalize to modern standards, and it required closing the facility for 18 months.
Lopsided To The United States...For A Reason
Canadian fans were vocally upset about getting only one new franchise, while watching the United States get three new teams in this round of PWHL expansion. It means the league will enter the 2026-27 with an imbalance between the nations for the first time with seven American teams, and five in Canada.
But the PWHL is about where the game is going, not where it's been. Women's and girls' hockey is growing exponentially in the United States, not only in the number of new registrations, but also in the calibre of players being produced by the nation. And when it comes to the league's longterm success, and the ability to increase wages to an equitable level, the United States is crucial.
If the PWHL can obtain a league-wide national broadcasting deal in the United States, it could be the final piece to the puzzle. The WNBA recently finalized a media broadcasting deal set to pay the league $3.1 billion over 11 years, the equivalent of roughly $281 million per season. Considering the salaries of every player in the now 12-team PWHL next season will equal only $16.58 million, broadcasting can be the foundation of sustainability, and league-altering in terms of the ability to compensate players, and continue growth through expansion in the future.
Could certain Canadian markets have drawn more in terms of attendance? Perhaps, but it was Seattle that led the PWHL in attendance this season as an expansion team. And ultimately, the PWHL needs a national broadcasting deal in the United States, and to do that, they needed to focus on their footprint on the United States.
While the PWHL certainly had places they wanted to go, they probably didn't get all of them. Early in the process, many believed Denver and Edmonton were frontrunners. Many believed Quebec City had everything, including the venue ready and waiting. And almost no one believed the PWHL would look outside the Takeover Tour. But the league grew by four teams for players and for fans, and after a few years to settle, the PWHL has no intention of stopping at 12.
When the PWHL Takeover Tour returns next season, the pressure will be off, and the Tour will become what it was originally intended; which was not to be a competition for teams, but a celebration of the game, and an opportunity to showcase professional women's hockey to new fans in new cities across the globe.