PWHL Deserves More Attention & Attendance

While it was expected the numbers would drop slightly, the PWHL should have more fans in the stands

With the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) almost finished with its first season, I’d like to share some perspectives that have surprised me in good and bad ways. The first has to do with attendance. Being credentialed for PWHL Minnesota, I’ve been lucky to attend six home games this season and see how many fans the league has. 

The good, no, the amazing part about the attendance in Minnesota was that the home opener set a record across the league with 13,316 people. Of course, Canada would break that record with over 19,000 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto between PWHL Toronto and PWHL Montréal. PWHL Minnesota’s record would also be broken in the United States by Detroit, which hosted PWHL Ottawa and PWHL Boston at Little Caesars Arena in front of 13,736. 

Those are all great numbers, and the league has started out wonderfully. With each new city they go to, fans are ecstatic to get tickets and fill those arenas; however, when the team returns home, the story is a little different, especially in Minnesota. After the rush of the home opener, attendance has gone down, and while it’s still higher on weekends versus weekdays, it’s dropping. 

While I understand it’s not going to be record attendance every game, and I know it may be hard to get fans in after the excitement has gone down, I thought, at least in Minnesota, the attendance would stay up since hockey, both men’s and women’s is basically part of the culture here. Also, with so many Minnesotans on the roster, I’m surprised there aren’t more fans in the seats coming to support the local talent.