With women’s hockey rising in popularity since the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s inaugural season in January 2024, Milwaukee could provide a platform for the expansion of the league. Milwaukee’s professional hockey scene currently consists of one team in the American Hockey League, and despite expressed interest, the city has yet to house an NHL team.
The lack of an NHL team is compensated for by the Milwaukee Admirals, but expanding the PWHL to Milwaukee would bring the women’s sports scene to the city and possibly restart conversations about making Milwaukee the house of an NHL franchise.
The Admirals are currently playing in the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Panther Arena, which has a capacity of 6,000. Fiserv Forum held a Home Away from Home game that hosted the Chicago Blackhawks as they played the St. Louis Blues. Both of these venues are valid options for a new league, especially considering their location in central Milwaukee.
Yahoo Sports ranked Fiserv Forum as the third best venue for a potential new PWHL team, citing its pro-ready status as appealing to the league. They also note Milwaukee’s girls’ hockey system as being a motivator, seeing as club and high school participation around the city is steady and strong.
The Milwaukee Admirals even have their own girls league, which promotes player development in a similar manner to the pro league.
The PWHL is currently made up of six teams, three of which are based in the US and the other three in Canada. To garner nationwide exposure, the league started the Takeover Tour in January, where games are played in various neutral sites around the US and Canada. Attendance for these games was record-breaking; the game taking place in Denver drew 14,018 fans to the Denver Ball Arena, where the Denver Avalanche (NHL) and Denver Nuggets (NBA) play.
When deciding locations for the tour, focus was put onto cities that expressed enthusiasm engaging with the league, the driving objective of the tour being to showcase the game and athletes across a wider breadth.
There’s a clear interest in women’s hockey that cities should take advantage of. Women’s sports are only getting more popular, and cities should fight for the opportunity to house a franchise. Executives haven’t said much about future franchise locations but will look at various factors such as fan base and market size as they work to expand.
Adding Milwaukee to the list of stops on next year’s Takeover Tour could be the first step to putting the city on the map for future expansion.
Bringing women’s hockey to Milwaukee would mark the first appearance of one of the Big Five league sports — the leagues being NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS — in the city, something that could be monumental considering the demand and attention towards women’s sports. Having an established PWHL team in the city could also reawaken talk about housing an NHL team, which would push Milwaukee even further into the pro sports scene.
The Admirals are affiliated with the Nashville Predators, a relationship that has boosted the team as they’ve only missed playoffs three times over the last 21 years. Pairing the momentum of the previous success of an established franchise with the excitement over the prospect of a new expansion team could put Milwaukee at the front of conversations when it comes to the growth of professional sports in the city.
The existence of women’s sports in Milwaukee is long overdue. Whether the PWHL makes a stop here during next years’ takeover tour or takes steps towards creating a Milwaukee based franchise, it would be a pivotal moment for the city’s sports landscape and mark a new era of women’s sports in the region.
This story was written by Lilly Peacock. She can be reached at lilly.peacock@marquette.edu or @lillypeacockMU on Twitter/X.
