SEATTLE \u2014 Seattle has officially been awarded an expansion franchise to play in the Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League to begin play this year.<\/p>\n
It further cements Seattle as one of the premier cities for women\u2019s sports in the entire country.<\/p>\n
The PWHL will make the official announcement in Seattle later Wednesday morning, but says the franchise will have colors of emerald green and cream and be known as \u201cPWHL Seattle\u201d until a permanent brand is decided.<\/p>\n
The team will play at Climate Pledge Arena and practice at the Kraken Community Iceplex.<\/p>\n
PWHL Seattle enters the league in tandem with a franchise in Vancouver, which was officially announced last week.<\/p>\n
Boston, Minnesota, Montr\u00e9al, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto are the \u201cOriginal Six\u201d for the league that started two years ago.<\/p>\n
It was clear that the city was being eyed by the league during the league\u2019s whistlestop \u201cTakeover Tour\u201d<\/a> that drew more than 12,000 fans<\/a> for a game at Climate Pledge Arena in January. Each team plays 30 games, but it was immediately unclear if that would include 15 home dates in Seattle. The current PWHL season ends this coming weekend.<\/p>\n Seattle has a long history with women\u2019s collegiate and professional sports, dating back decades. The WNBA\u2019s Seattle Storm is considered one of the top two most valuable franchises in that league and has won four championships. The NWSL\u2019s Seattle Reign has been a league-leading franchise since the inception of the league. The University of Washington\u2019s women\u2019s athletic programs, in volleyball, softball, basketball, soccer, and rowing programs have also been consistent winners and have sold out facilities. Seattle Sports Commission President Beth Knox had previously told KOMO’s “Inside the Arena”<\/a> that the city was in the mix for a new PWHL franchise.<\/p>\n All of that was a factor for the PWHL.<\/p>\n There is so much passion from women\u2019s and girls\u2019 hockey organizations in Seattle, and our players thrived on that energy during their Takeover Tour visit,\u201d said Jayna Hefford, PWHL Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations in a statement ahead of a formal press conference. \u201cWomen\u2019s teams from Seattle and Vancouver played against each other as early as 1921 and, given the proximity of our two newest cities. I cannot wait for the first game in what I\u2019m sure will be one of our fiercest rivalries. We also look forward to making an impact in Seattle off the ice, from grassroots hockey to community initiatives, we’re committed to building meaningful connections throughout our newest home city.<\/p>\n \u201cThe opportunity to start a new chapter of women\u2019s hockey in the Pacific Northwest, combined with calling the world-class Climate Pledge Arena home, has so much meaning for our league. The Kraken already have been unbelievably supportive, and it\u2019s a joy to have PWHL Seattle join the WNBA\u2019s Storm and the NWSL\u2019s Reign, who are skyscrapers in the city\u2019s towering sports landscape,\u201d added Amy Scheer, PWHL Executive Vice President of Business Operations, in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n The new team will join the league\u2019s single-entity ownership structure under The Walter Group, but the Oak View Group, which developed and operates CPA, made a bid to host the franchise.<\/p>\n Seattle Kraken owner Samantha Holloway added in a statement that \u201cSeattle is an incredible sports city and we\u2019ve seen firsthand the passion for the women\u2019s game at both the US v. Canada Rivalry game and the PWHL Takeover Tour. We\u2019re also proud to grow the game of hockey at Kraken Community Iceplex, and together we\u2019ll continue to inspire the next generation of hockey players and fans alike.\u201d<\/p>\n The PWHL says details regarding an expansion draft for Seattle and Vancouver will be announced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 Seattle has officially been awarded an expansion franchise to play in the Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[2925,2926,2927,2928,5,2042,2924,234,1374],"class_list":{"0":"post-6577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-climate-pledge-arena","9":"tag-emerald-green","10":"tag-expansion-franchise","11":"tag-grassroots-hockey","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-hockey-operations","14":"tag-pwhl-seattle","15":"tag-seattle-kraken","16":"tag-womens-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/114426882525180409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}