The six-team Professional Women’s Hockey League is launching its expansion process with plans to add two franchises for the start of the 2025-26 season, a league executive announced Tuesday. And Quebec City has already announced its intention of being a candidate for an expansion franchise, one of a long list of cities that could be homes to new teams.
On Wednesday, the league is expected to officially announce that a game between the Ottawa Charge and Montreal Victoire on Jan. 19 will be held at Quebec City’s Videotron Centre.
Quebec City councillor Jackie Smith confirmed the neutral site match on Tuesday. The Victoire scheduled a news conference for Wednesday at the Videotron Centre.
Smith called the development the first step in Quebec City landing an expansion team.
Speaking at the ESPNW Summit in New York, the PWHL’s senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer said the league will begin sending requests for expansion proposals to several markets starting as early as next week, while also accepting applications.
“(We’re) looking for the right market size, right fan base, right facilities, right economic opportunity — so a lot of research to be done over the next couple months,” Scheer said, without specifying which markets the league might be targeting. “But yeah, looking to continue to build the league and grow the number of teams.”
Among the U.S. expansion candidates are Detroit and Pittsburgh, where the PWHL hosted neutral site games during its inaugural season last year. Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia would also be regarded as candidates after both were considered before the league established teams in Boston, New York and Minnesota. Denver and Seattle are also considered potential candidates.
In Canada, Calgary would also be a potential option to join Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto in the league. Calgary was previously home to the Inferno from 2011 to 2019, before the Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded.
Scheer also announced the league plans to hold neutral site games in nine markets across North America, and is considering holding an outdoor game. Scheer added the league is also working on holding games in Europe, without specifying when that might happen.
The PWHL’s second season opens on Nov. 30, and features an expanded schedule with each team playing 30 games — up from 24 last year. The league has yet to announce where it’s neutral site games will be played.