PWHL saw record growth in 2025-26, surpassing 1 million fans in attendance
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The 2025-26 season welcomed 1,116,497 fans across 120 regular season games, the first time the league has surpassed one million fans in a single season. Average attendance rose 28 percent from 7,230 spectators in 2024-25 to 9,304 this season, which is a 71 percent increase over the PWHL’s inaugural season in 2024.
This season introduced the league’s first-ever expansion markets, in Seattle and Vancouver, and marked the PWHL’s first during an Olympic year.
After an exciting women’s hockey tournament in Milan, top players had a domestic professional league to return to, and the PWHL did well to capitalize on the explosion of interest we typically see every four years.
“We knew this moment was going to be big for us,” PWHL executive vice president of business operations Amy Scheer told The Athletic last month, “and felt that this could be a game changer for us.”
The PWHL’s two newest franchises, the Seattle Torrent and Vancouver Goldeneyes, had the largest average attendance in their home venues this season. Seattle, which plays at Climate Pledge Arena, ranked first (12,875), followed by Vancouver with 11,234 fans per game at Pacific Coliseum. According to the league, the expansion clubs also generated the highest first-year merchandise sales of any teams in the league to date.
The league’s “Takeover Tour” brought 16 regular season games to neutral sites this season, including seven new cities that experienced PWHL hockey for the first time. The barnstorming games drew 200,000 fans. A Washington, D.C. game at Capital One Arena in January set a new U.S. attendance record (17,228 fans), which was later broken by sold-out games at Climate Pledge Arena and Madison Square Garden. A March 28 game at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit became the first PWHL game to be broadcast on national television in the United States on the Scripps Sports network, ION. The league has seen significant growth in other areas outside of attendance, too.
According to the news release, merchandise sales in-arena have doubled compared to last season, “reflecting significant growth in fan demand.” Online merchandise sales also increased more than 50 percent year-over-year. Following the Milan Olympics, the league said, this growth accelerated even further with an approximately 190 percent increase in sales versus the same period last year.
Viewership on the league’s YouTube channel has also surged. Since its inaugural season, the PWHL has streamed all games on YouTube in the U.S. and across Europe. This season, live YouTube viewership increased 77 percent, with viewers tuning in from 154 countries, up from 106 countries last season.
Next up is the 2026 PWHL playoffs, where the top-seeded Montreal Victoire and back-to-back champion Minnesota Frost, and Boston Fleet and Ottawa Charge will face off for the Walter Cup trophy.
Then? Expansion, in which two to four teams will be added to the league ahead of next season. That announcement could be coming soon.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Toronto Sceptres, Minnesota Frost, Vancouver Goldeneyes, New York Sirens, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Seattle Torrent, Boston Fleet, NHL, Sports Business, Women's Hockey
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