The six-team Professional Women's Hockey League is launching its expansion process with plans to add as many as two franchises for the start of the 2025-26 season.
Speaking at the ESPNW Summit in New York, senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer said the league will begin sending requests for 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.