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The demand for PWHL teams right now is nuts. It's possible cities that were considered shoe-ins due to strong bids wont be approved. 11-12 cities are in the mix and 2-4 will get it. The PWHL has said they expect to only approve 2-4 bids this summer, but there is a rumor they are considering a summer 2027 expansion as well.
After this summer's expansion they need to freeze hard. They can't be putting teams in a blender every season via expansion drafts. Also, the talent pool needs to refresh. (In expansion drafts, new teams get to yoink players from existing teams. Established teams can only protect a few players from getting sniped.)
Look at the Seattle Torrent, one of the most stacked teams to even grace the league... and they suck because they can't play together. Most of them don't expect to play together next year. They can't pass to each other, they just shoot the puck where they want a teammate to be not where one is. But, individually they are so strong they don't get blown out. Knight and Carpenter can break out and score against top teams. Defenders and goalies are amazing. But they keep putting themselves in hell by just giving the puck to the other team over and over. It's not just center ice that's a bakery (full of turnovers) they do it in their own zone, right in front of the net!
The Torrent's vibes might be immaculate and attendance record-breaking, but also fans have been dipping over how depressingly bad they've been. But, that's a separate topic and, again, we'll have a mostly-new roster next year.
Ironically, we know the goalies train together a lot, which is important and part of why our tending is so good. But we only have one goalie on the ice at a time so that doesn't solve the problem I'm talking about. We know they train together a lot from photos of the Torrent and Kraken goalies practicing together as a group. Which is awesome and not every city has NHL and PWHL working together like we do. For both teams, there are problems but tending is not one of them.
Anyway, the cities in the mix include Vegas, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, DC, Detroit, Quebec City, Chicago, Edmonton, Halifax, Calgary, Hamilton and Winnipeg. These are all locations that are expected to make strong bids and have strong support. For at least 10 of those locations, the team would be making more use of and creating more economic activity at an existing rink, not a new one. That's one reason for the strong support, telling cities they can do more business without having to build shit. A hype sports team without the usual price tag is a juicy deal.
Denver has shown very strong fan support for a PHWL team. Detroit not getting a team would be tragic. Vegas getting a team would be potentially hilarious (they did not host a take-over game, but they've been listed as in the mix and making a strong bid.) Hopefully we get more Canadian teams, especially Quebec City and Hamilton. Chicago is so sure they are getting a team some places reported months ago that it's a done deal. Dallas is expected to make a very strong bid. There is more demand for teams than the league can take on.
But they can't keep expecting fanbases to never get attached to any players ever because of expansion drafts.
The reason why the PWHL is taking off so hard is because their main draw is not from hockey fans, it's from under-served women's sports fans. They are not going to stick around forever with no league stability and also other sports going 'hey, that's our lunch the PWHL is eating'
People who want more women's sports are being told "look at this hype shit!"
* League is expanding
* It's got buzz-worthy young rookies and prospects alongside veteran players dripping in Olympic gold and stories about overcoming the obstacles of sometimes not even having a team to play on
* How often did the PWHL break attendance records last year? You want that by city, by country, league wide? Want to hear how fast they sold out Madison Square Garden? Want individual games or the Torrent setting a record for highest average attendance? Or how how many more people attended games overall this season? So many records, you need to narrow this down a little!
That hype is where the audience is coming from, people who don't know hockey but want to get in one this exciting thing taking off. Waiting in line to enter the stadium over the weekend, people were explaining things like 'hockey games are usually three periods, but there may be overtime'. I'm using an anecdote here, but this is also what's going on here and why the PWHL has outstripped attendance projections. The majority of fans are coming from outside of hockey fandom.
I've had 'when will the league get it's first POC player' conversations while at Torrent watch parties with people in Torrent shirts. Mikyla Grant-Mentis is top player on our team, what are you talking about? (I can't actually talk because for a while I tried to avoid learning about individual players. It's hard for me to even a pick a player I'd be willing to say that they'll probably be back. Make me choose and it'd be Murphy. Actually if you specifically asked me just who I think will play for Seattle next year, I'd say Laila Edwards. I am more sure we're getting her in the draft than I am that *any* current player is going to stay)
But anyway, yeah, wanted to ramble about the PWHL and how they are going to need to break the hearts of fans by not accepting bids, and also going into a freeze for years. And also however Seattle shakes out next year, if they don't tighten up, that's going to make keeping the hype going a lot harder. Seattle's been a factor in a number of the PWHL's attendance records.
After this summer's expansion they need to freeze hard. They can't be putting teams in a blender every season via expansion drafts. Also, the talent pool needs to refresh. (In expansion drafts, new teams get to yoink players from existing teams. Established teams can only protect a few players from getting sniped.)
Look at the Seattle Torrent, one of the most stacked teams to even grace the league... and they suck because they can't play together. Most of them don't expect to play together next year. They can't pass to each other, they just shoot the puck where they want a teammate to be not where one is. But, individually they are so strong they don't get blown out. Knight and Carpenter can break out and score against top teams. Defenders and goalies are amazing. But they keep putting themselves in hell by just giving the puck to the other team over and over. It's not just center ice that's a bakery (full of turnovers) they do it in their own zone, right in front of the net!
The Torrent's vibes might be immaculate and attendance record-breaking, but also fans have been dipping over how depressingly bad they've been. But, that's a separate topic and, again, we'll have a mostly-new roster next year.
Ironically, we know the goalies train together a lot, which is important and part of why our tending is so good. But we only have one goalie on the ice at a time so that doesn't solve the problem I'm talking about. We know they train together a lot from photos of the Torrent and Kraken goalies practicing together as a group. Which is awesome and not every city has NHL and PWHL working together like we do. For both teams, there are problems but tending is not one of them.
Anyway, the cities in the mix include Vegas, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, DC, Detroit, Quebec City, Chicago, Edmonton, Halifax, Calgary, Hamilton and Winnipeg. These are all locations that are expected to make strong bids and have strong support. For at least 10 of those locations, the team would be making more use of and creating more economic activity at an existing rink, not a new one. That's one reason for the strong support, telling cities they can do more business without having to build shit. A hype sports team without the usual price tag is a juicy deal.
Denver has shown very strong fan support for a PHWL team. Detroit not getting a team would be tragic. Vegas getting a team would be potentially hilarious (they did not host a take-over game, but they've been listed as in the mix and making a strong bid.) Hopefully we get more Canadian teams, especially Quebec City and Hamilton. Chicago is so sure they are getting a team some places reported months ago that it's a done deal. Dallas is expected to make a very strong bid. There is more demand for teams than the league can take on.
But they can't keep expecting fanbases to never get attached to any players ever because of expansion drafts.
The reason why the PWHL is taking off so hard is because their main draw is not from hockey fans, it's from under-served women's sports fans. They are not going to stick around forever with no league stability and also other sports going 'hey, that's our lunch the PWHL is eating'
People who want more women's sports are being told "look at this hype shit!"
* League is expanding
* It's got buzz-worthy young rookies and prospects alongside veteran players dripping in Olympic gold and stories about overcoming the obstacles of sometimes not even having a team to play on
* How often did the PWHL break attendance records last year? You want that by city, by country, league wide? Want to hear how fast they sold out Madison Square Garden? Want individual games or the Torrent setting a record for highest average attendance? Or how how many more people attended games overall this season? So many records, you need to narrow this down a little!
That hype is where the audience is coming from, people who don't know hockey but want to get in one this exciting thing taking off. Waiting in line to enter the stadium over the weekend, people were explaining things like 'hockey games are usually three periods, but there may be overtime'. I'm using an anecdote here, but this is also what's going on here and why the PWHL has outstripped attendance projections. The majority of fans are coming from outside of hockey fandom.
I've had 'when will the league get it's first POC player' conversations while at Torrent watch parties with people in Torrent shirts. Mikyla Grant-Mentis is top player on our team, what are you talking about? (I can't actually talk because for a while I tried to avoid learning about individual players. It's hard for me to even a pick a player I'd be willing to say that they'll probably be back. Make me choose and it'd be Murphy. Actually if you specifically asked me just who I think will play for Seattle next year, I'd say Laila Edwards. I am more sure we're getting her in the draft than I am that *any* current player is going to stay)
But anyway, yeah, wanted to ramble about the PWHL and how they are going to need to break the hearts of fans by not accepting bids, and also going into a freeze for years. And also however Seattle shakes out next year, if they don't tighten up, that's going to make keeping the hype going a lot harder. Seattle's been a factor in a number of the PWHL's attendance records.
