PHWL’s Inaugural Year a Resounding Success
Women’s sports is attracting more and more sport fans and with this popularity brings large business opportunities. For us in Canada, PHWL’s inaugural year was a resounding success.
The season has wrapped on the debut year of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) and all signs point to success on and off the ice. (Spoiler alert: The Walter Cup was hoisted for the first time by Minnesota.) The first year saw six franchise locations (Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa and Toronto) suit up and consisted of a shortened 24 game regular season due to a late season start in January 2024.
To ensure success, the PWHL acted on multiple fronts to attract and engage their fanbase. The level of play on the ice has been competitive – fast and physical. The calibre of the players is top notch. Many of these athletes are marquee names who have led their respective countries to victories in countless world tournaments including Marie-Philip Poulin, Sarah Nurse and Alex Carpenter. The second season is sure to bring even more talent as the late start to this season meant many players from Europe were already under contract and could not participate. The draft for season 2 was already announced with more than 150 players expected to participate.
Games were broadcast on TSN, Sportsnet and CBC. Additionally, all games were streamed for free on the PWHL’s official YouTube channel giving viewers a chance to rewatch those plays that everyone was talking about the day after the game; the channel has amassed over 100K subscribers.
Access to the players was also top of mind. There were meet and greets, autograph sessions after games and even highlight reels of individual players reaching out to fans to make that extra connection such as dropping in for fan birthday parties https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.7114644.
And fans responded, first by setting a women’s hockey attendance record on February 16th at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto against Montreal with a sold-out crowd of 19,285. Then breaking that record in a re-match at the Bell Centre in Montreal on April 20th with attendance of 21,105. The league has shown flexibility recognizing the demand between these two long-time rival cities and moved swiftly to relocate the Montreal game. These are remarkable numbers when you consider Toronto’s regular season arena has a capacity of 2,600 seats. It may be time for Toronto to look for a larger arena.
The excitement that was palpable at the launch of the PWHL has not wavered throughout the playoffs. The league now must carry this momentum through the off-season. A priority this summer will be revealing the names and logos for each of the teams in time for fans to get creative with their costumes, posters, and slogans in time for the start of season 2.