Women’s hockey is on its way to Seattle, enriching an already vibrant women’s professional sports landscape.
Kraken, PWHL, and city executives made long-rumored plans to expand the PWHL to Seattle official Wednesday at Climate Pledge Arena, the soon-to-be home of the league’s second expansion franchise and the area’s third professional women’s sports team, alongside the WNBA’s Storm and the NWSL’s Reign.
PWHL Seattle is set to compete starting the 2025-26 season, with details regarding their participation in the 2025 PWHL Draft and an Expansion Draft this summer forthcoming. Although there’s no timeline for choosing a name, the franchise does have its colors selected: cream and emerald green, like the vegetation of the Living Wall setting the scene of Wednesday’s press conference.
Exactly four years have passed since the NHL’s own expansion to the Emerald City, and a week since the the PWHL awarded Vancouver a franchise. PWHL Executive Vice President of Business Operations Amy Scheer said Seattle was an “obvious” choice for expansion.
“As a league, we set certain criteria in order to have a market work,” Scheer explained. “Infrastructure, facilities . . . partnership opportunities, fan engagement, the growth of youth hockey here. [There are] so many reasons to come here, not just one, but so many that Seattle checks all the boxes on. [It’s] an absolute honor for us to call Seattle home.”
Expanding to two of the Pacific Northwest’s largest cities gives the PWHL a West Coast presence– on both sides of the border– that the league previously lacked. Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto comprised the league’s six inaugural teams, which began playing Jan. 2024. With about 140 miles between the two newest markets, Seattle’s proximity to Vancouver will, ideally, create enough friction to cultivate a rivalry.
Furthermore, there were no doubts about Seattle’s structural ability to host another professional hockey team after the Kraken what with the Kraken Community Iceplex in Northgate and the $1.15 billion Climate Pledge Arena, nestled underneath the Space Needle, suitable facilities for the PWHL. Scheer admitted selling out every home game in a more than 17,000-seat arena is a lofty goal, but anything’s possible.
Regardless, PWHL Seattle will have ample space to continue to grow its fanbase and feed an existing appetite for women’s sports. The 2025 Takeover Tour drew an audience of 12,608 when it stopped in Seattle this past January, the sixth-highest attendance of nine total dates and the third-highest among six U.S. dates. Vancouver’s crowd of 19,038 was the largest overall. According to the league, Seattle was also the “second-highest performing market on social media” during the Takeover Tour, factoring in metrics like mentions, buzz, sentiment, and cross-platform reach.
Hunger for professional women’s hockey in Seattle existed even before the PWHL’s founding. When the city hosted one of the seven-game, U.S. vs. Canada Women’s Hockey Rivalry Series back in Nov. 2022, 14,551 showed up.
Encouraging further growth of the sport won’t end with expansion, however. PWHL Seattle, in partnership with the similarly community-oriented Kraken, will host outreach events throughout the city to “foster deep local connections,” as detailed by the press release.
“The fun is just beginning,” Scheer said. “We’re going to bring you the best hockey you’ll ever see in the world.”