Another week, another new PWHL team.
Seattle is getting an expansion team that will begin play in the 2025-26 season, the league announced Wednesday. With last week’s announcement of an expansion team in Vancouver, the PWHL will have eight teams next season.
‘The opportunity to start a new chapter of women’s hockey in the Pacific Northwest … has so much meaning for our league,’ Amy Scheer, the executive vice president of PWHL business operations, said in a statement. ‘The (NHL’s Seattle) Kraken already have been unbelievably supportive, and it’s a joy to have PWHL Seattle join the WNBA’s Storm and the NWSL’s Reign, who are skyscrapers in the city’s towering sports landscape.”
The still-to-be-named Seattle team will play at Climate Pledge Arena, home of both the Kraken and the Storm. Its colors will be emerald green and cream.
The PWHL began play last year, and it quickly became obvious there was room for growth. It’s already passed the 1 million mark in total attendance, and has repeatedly set single-game records for women’s hockey in the United States. Its ‘Takeover Tour’ — games played in potential expansion cities — was wildly successful, drawing 123,601 fans to the nine games.
That included the 12,608 people, then a season high, who turned out for a Jan. 5 game at Climate Pledge Arena.