From January to March of the 2024-2025 PWHL season, the league’s original six teams played games in cities without a PWHL franchise as part of the PWHL Takeover Tour. One of the goals of the tour was to test potential markets for future expansion.
On January 8, 2025, Vancouver hosted the Montréal Victoire and the Toronto Sceptres on the second stop of the Takeover Tour. Of all nine stops, Vancouver had the highest attendance of the Takeover Tour at 19,038. With this high turnout, Vancouver made themselves a front-runner to have their own PWHL team.
On April 23, 2025, the official announcement came that Vancouver was getting their own team. Since then, PWHL Vancouver has built their roster, preparing for their inaugural 2025-2026 season.
PWHL Vancouver will play at the former home of the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, the Pacific Coliseum, and here’s why that is beneficial for the team.
A Place to Call Their Own
Many PWHL teams have a place to call their own, but some share an arena with an NHL team, including the New York Sirens, Minnesota Frost, and the other new team, PWHL Seattle.
The Sirens played their 2024-2025 season at Prudential Centre, home of the NHL team the New Jersey Devils, but it is unconfirmed if they will play there for the 2025-2026 season.
The Frost played at Grand Arena Casino along with the Minnesota Wild, and will continue to play there this season.
PWHL Seattle will be playing at Climate Pledge Arena, sharing with the Seattle Kraken, but will be looking for their own home venue in the future.
Having their own arena at the Pacific Coliseum, PWHL Vancouver will have priority for ice time, whereas other PWHL teams may not have priority as they will compete with a busy NHL schedule.
As well, PWHL Vancouver will have their own practice facility across the street at The PNE Agrodome, something the local NHL team, the Vancouver Canucks lacks. The Canucks practice at their rink Rogers Arena, and at UBC in the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, neither location acting as a set practice facility.
PWHL Vancouver having their own practice facility, one only a few steps away from their home ice, shows how perfect the Pacific Coliseum is for the new teams inaugural season.
The Canucks also share Rogers Arena as a home with the Vancouver Warriors, a part of the NLL. On top of that, Rogers Arena is popular for concerts and other events. The Pacific Coliseum does host events during the winter season, however, the majority of their events run through the summer, resulting in minimal overlap with PWHL Vancouver’s need for the arena.
The Pacific Coliseum provides PWHL Vancouver a place for them to call their own home, allowing them to focus on their first season in the league, competing only with other PWHL teams.
A Place to Grow
For hockey, the Pacific Coliseum has a capacity of 16,281. The one PWHL game played in Vancouver as part of the PWHL Takeover Tour had an outstanding attendance of 19,038.
While this proves that Vancouver wants women’s hockey, Vancouver may have believed the PWHL Takeover Tour was their one chance of seeing professional women’s hockey live. This may have led to a higher attendance than they will see on a regular basis, with their own team.
Many of the fans in the stands for the PWHL Takeover Tour at Rogers Arena were girls attending with their minor league hockey team. Seeing the Victoire and the Sceptres play showed these young fans there is a place in their futures for them to play at the professional level.
However, it is unlikely that all of these minor league teams will attend every PWHL Vancouver game, leading to fewer fans in the stands.
Taking this into account, it would not be realistic to expect PWHL Vancouver to fill the stands at Rogers Arena for every game. The Pacific Coliseum holds roughly 3,000 less people, making it easier to pack the arena and make the encouraging chants louder, all the while still giving everyone the opportunity to attend and enjoy games.
With that being said, PWHL Vancouver is gaining new fans every day, many of which want to watch them play live.
PWHL Vancouver and PWHL Seattle both enter the league this upcoming season, and both teams lead the league in season ticket sales over the original six teams.
With the overwhelming support PWHL Vancouver is having, it would be no surprise if they fill the Pacific Coliseum every game in their inaugural season.
The Pacific Coliseum is the best fit for PWHL Vancouver in more than one way. It gives them an arena they can realistically fill every game, it provides them with a practice facility down the street, and most importantly, it gives them a place they can turn into their own home.
