Pro Women's Hockey League says it could add as many as two teams for 2025-26 season
Expansion is on the table for the six-team Professional Women's Hockey League, and executives aren't placing limitations on which North American markets
Expansion is on the table for the six-team Professional Women’s Hockey League, and executives aren’t placing limitations on which North American markets they’ll consider in a bid to add as many as two franchises for the 2025-26 season.
The only certainty is a vision of the timing being right to build on the support the PWHL generated in its inaugural year, and the growth the league projects entering its second season, which opens on Nov. 30.
“I don’t think we rule out any market,” senior vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “This is a good opportunity for us to learn and continue to explore. So everything’s on the table right now.”
To reinforce how open-ended the PWHL’s expansion search will be, senior VP for business operations Amy Scheer told the AP the league has targeted more than 20 markets to be issued requests for proposals for expansion by next week. And that doesn’t include additional markets that might approach the league for consideration.
“I think we want to be an open book, and I think we want to be open to things that we haven’t thought about or things that we haven’t considered,” Scheer said. “Until we have the data and the facts and the conversations, we might be surprised. So let’s go for it.”