Seattle joins women's hockey's big leagues
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Young fans cheer during a PWHL Takeover Tour game in January at Climate Pledge Arena. Photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images
Seattle fans, get ready to cheer for pro women's hockey: The city has scored a PWHL expansion team just in time for the 2025–26 season.
Why it matters: Seattle joins the Professional Women's Hockey League amid growing momentum for women's sports nationwide, with viewership, media investment and fan demand at an all-time high.
Driving the news: The PWHL announced Wednesday that Seattle will become its eighth team, debuting in the 2025–26 season starting this fall.
- The team will play at Climate Pledge Arena, train at the Kraken Community Iceplex and operate as PWHL Seattle until a permanent name is chosen.
The big picture: The expansion taps into a city with an engaged fan base and one of the few pro teams in the country owned solely by women.
- The city is home to the Seattle Storm, four-time WNBA champions, which set a franchise attendance record — more than 18,000 fans — at a 2024 game at Climate Pledge Arena.
- OL Reign fans broke the all-time NWSL attendance record two years ago at Megan Rapinoe's final match and regularly drew crowds of more than 8,000 last year.
- That passion showed up again in January, when a PWHL exhibition game at Climate Pledge Arena — part of the league's Takeover Tour — brought in 12,608 fans, signaling real demand for a permanent team, per PWHL.
What they're saying: At Wednesday's announcement, Amy Scheer, PWHL's executive vice president of business operations, referred to Seattle as "the capital of women's sports."
- "We are going to bring the best hockey you will ever see in the world. … I promise you, if you come to a game you will fall in love with PWHL."
Between the lines: Seattle joins Vancouver as the PWHL's first two expansion teams, and the two cities are expected to develop a natural rivalry given their proximity and shared hockey history dating back to 1921, the Seattle Times reports.
What's next: The full 2025–26 PWHL schedule — featuring 30 games per team — is expected to drop in late summer, per PWHL.
- Season ticket deposits for PWHL Seattle are now open at thepwhl.com.
- Details on the expansion draft and how Seattle and Vancouver will be integrated into the 2025 PWHL Draft on June 24 will be announced in the coming weeks.