PWHL continues West Coast expansion, adding franchise in Seattle
CBC
The Professional Women's Hockey League will add a franchise in Seattle ahead of next season.
Seattle joins Vancouver as the PWHL's first two expansion teams, bringing the growing league to eight teams now spanning west to east across North America. The other teams are located in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, the New York Area and Minnesota.
The long-rumoured expansion to Seattle was confirmed on Wednesday morning.
Jayna Hefford, the league's executive vice president of hockey operations, pointed to Seattle's rich history of supporting women's sports, a growing youth hockey community and access to top facilities as a few reasons why the city was appealing.
"Seattle has been incredible in supporting women's hockey, whether that be at the international level with the Rivalry Series, and then of course our [Takeover Tour] game," Hefford told CBC Sports in an interview.
"I think Seattle has really stood up for women's sports. We can't wait to be part of that women's sports community here."
More than 12,600 people attended a PWHL game between the Montreal Victoire and Boston Fleet inside Climate Pledge Arena, the home of the NHL's Kraken, on Jan. 5 as part of the league's Takeover Tour.
Before that, in November 2022, more than 14,500 fans watched a Rivalry Series game between Canada and the United States at the same location.
The PWHL team will join the WNBA's Seattle Storm and NWSL's Seattle Reign FC as major women's professional teams based in the city.
"The opportunity to start a new chapter of women's hockey in the Pacific Northwest, combined with calling the world-class Climate Pledge Arena home has so much meaning for our league," Amy Scheer, the league's executive vice president of business operations, said.
"The 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."
Like Vancouver, the Seattle team will initially be called PWHL Seattle while the league develops a new name and logo. The team's colours will be emerald green and cream.
The team will play at Climate Pledge Arena and train at the Kraken Community Iceplex. Climate Pledge Arena is also home to the WNBA's Storm.
While the Seattle franchise will be owned by Mark and Kimbra Walter, along with the other seven PWHL teams, the bid for a Seattle franchise was led by the Kraken and the Oak View Group that developed and operates Climate Pledge Arena.
