The Professional Women's Hockey League is on the verge of its next major expansion, and all signs point to Detroit finally getting its long-awaited franchise. Hockeytown, it seems, is about to become even more of a hockey hub.
This Wednesday morning, the Ilitch organization and city officials are set to make an "exciting" announcement at Little Caesars Arena—and the buzz is unmistakable. Detroit has been on the PWHL's radar since before the league even dropped the puck on its inaugural season in 2023-24, and now the stars are aligning.
During the PWHL's takeover tour stop in Detroit back in March, Amy Scheer, the league's vice president of business operations, made no secret of the city's appeal. "Listen, this is Hockeytown," she told reporters. "I don't want to play anywhere else. This is where we want to play." That sentiment has only grown louder as the league eyes adding two to four teams for the upcoming season.
Detroit missed out on the first round of expansion, which brought franchises to Seattle and Vancouver this season. But the Motor City has been a standout on the PWHL's annual "takeover tour"—one-off games played in cities without a permanent team. The numbers speak for themselves: on March 28, 2026, a crowd of 15,938 packed Little Caesars Arena to watch Montreal top New York 3-1. That kind of turnout doesn't go unnoticed.
Little Caesars Arena, which opened in 2017, is already home to the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons, and it will welcome a WNBA franchise starting in 2029. Adding a PWHL team would be a natural fit, especially since the league's regular season runs from November to April, with teams playing more than a dozen home games. "We want to play in the NHL buildings," Scheer emphasized in March. "This might be the premier venue in the United States when you look at the clubs, the building."
The PWHL, owned by the Mark Walter Group (led by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter) and advised by tennis legend Billie Jean King, has already seen Minnesota claim the league's first two championships. Now, with expansion looming, Detroit is poised to join the party—and Hockeytown is ready to lace up its skates.