PWHL Takeover Tour

Since the PWHL's inaugural season, the league has hosted regular-season games at neutral sites outside of its home markets as part of initiatives to expand its fanbase, test potential expansion markets, and grow the sport of professional women's ice hockey across North America.^[1]

During the league's second season in 2024–25, the league formalized its neutral site program as the PWHL Takeover Tour, which featured nine games across the United States and Canada.^[2][3] The tour expanded to 16 games for the 2025–26 PWHL season.^[4] The Takeover Tour serves several strategic purposes including: market testing, fan development, developing relationships with cities and partners, league growth, and player exposure.^[4][5][6] PWHL Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Jayna Hefford stated that the tour has been "one of the most rewarding initiatives since our inception—for our fans, our athletes, and our staff."^[3]

The success of the Takeover Tour has influenced the PWHL's expansion strategy. Prior to announcing Seattle and Vancouver as the league's first two expansion teams in April 2025, the inaugural tour had tested markets in both cities with strong results—particularly the sold-out Vancouver game that drew over 19,000 fans.^[4] Both cities joined the league as permanent franchises for the 2025–26 PWHL season.^[7] PWHL officials have stated that the tour demonstrates the strong demand for professional women's hockey across North America and provides valuable data for future expansion decisions. Scheer noted that the league has "proven that time is overrated" regarding the pace of expansion, emphasizing that growth and profitability are interconnected objectives.^[8] At an Ottawa City Council meeting, Scheer stated: "We're going to expand at least two to four teams next year... We are in growth mode, and this league is exploding."^[5] The increasing interest in the PWHL expanding beyond its current cities was evidenced by a new single-day ticket sales record set during 2025–26 PWHL Takeover Tour presales which surpassed the previous benchmark by more than 55 percent.^[9]

PWHL Takeover Tour games are official PWHL regular-season contests that count toward team standings. Two of the neutral-site games are designated as home games for participating teams.^[4] The games follow standard PWHL rules and scoring systems.

The inaugural PWHL season featured two neutral site games as part of "PWHL Takeover Weekend" in March 2024.^[10]

The first PWHL Takeover Tour was announced on November 18, 2024, and launched on January 5, 2025.^[1] The 2024–25 season featured nine neutral site games from January through March 2025.^[3] The tour drew a total of 123,601 fans across nine games and set multiple attendance records for professional women's hockey.^[3][14] An estimated 80% of attendees experienced their first-ever PWHL game^[3][4] Fans from all 50 U.S. states and all 13 Canadian provinces and territories attended the games.^[3][4] Social media engagement led to a 30% increase in league-wide followers during the tour.^[3]

*City joined the PWHL as an expansion market for the 2025–26 season.

Detroit's Little Caesars Arena was the only venue to host a second neutral-site PWHL game, having previously hosted a game on March 16, 2024, that drew a then-U.S. professional women's hockey attendance record of 13,736 fans.^[1] The second game attendance at Little Caesars Arena grew to 14,288.^[3]

The 2025–26 season features an expanded PWHL Takeover Tour with 16 neutral site games across 11 cities from December 2025 through April 2026.^[4] The tour includes seven new markets (Calgary, Chicago, Dallas, Halifax, Hamilton, Washington, D.C., and Winnipeg) and four returning markets (Denver, Detroit, Edmonton, and Québec City) from the previous season.^[25] The tour's expansion was covered extensively in Canadian media, with TSN reporting that the tour would make its regular-season debut in the four new Canadian cities.^[25]

With the PWHL's expansion to eight teams (adding Seattle and Vancouver as permanent franchises) in 2025, all eight teams in the league participate in at least three Takeover Tour games during the 2025–26 season.^[4] The 2025–26 tour includes multiple presenting partnerships and sponsors, including: DoorDash, BJ's Wholesale Club, Woody Creek Distillers, Ally Financial, Explore Edmonton, and the province of Nova Scotia.^[4]

*City joined the PWHL as an expansion market for the 2026–27 season.

• Professional Women's Hockey League
• Women's ice hockey