This is a list of neutral site games played by the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) more commonly known as the PWHL Takeover Tour. The tour brings PWHL regular season games to cities that do not currently have a league franchise, allowing fans in new markets to experience professional women's ice hockey while the league evaluates potential expansion locations.[1]
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]
Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin playing for Montreal Victoire in 2025
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]
Format
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.
2023–24 season
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][12] 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]
Attendance records
The 2024–25 Takeover Tour set multiple attendance records:[3]
U.S. professional women's hockey record: 14,288 fans in Detroit on March 16, 2025 (breaking the previous record of 14,018 set in Denver on January 12, 2025)
Five games ranked in the top 10 all-time PWHL single-game attendance figures
Fourth all-time PWHL attendance: 19,038 fans in Vancouver on January 8, 2025 (sold out)
2025–26 season (expanded Takeover Tour)
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.[14] 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.[14]
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]
All games are broadcast on YouTube to viewers in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and Australia. In Canada, broadcast partners include: TSN, Sportsnet, Amazon Prime Video, and CBC.[15] PWHL Takeover Tour games in the United States also air on over-the-air broadcast partners in each host market, including TEGNA in Denver, Scripps Sports in Detroit, and FOX-owned stations in Chicago, Dallas, and Washington, D.C.[15]
Statistics
Games by venue
Neutral site games by venue (through January 25, 2026)
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