Seattle joins Vancouver as the Professional Women's Hockey League's expansion teams next season.
The PWHL confirmed Wednesday the addition of another West Coast team a week after announcing Vancouver would be the league's first expansion team in Canada.
"It certainly wasn't a package deal," said PWHL executive vice-president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford.
"These two markets stood on their own two feet in terms of market size, media reach, infrastructure, facilities.
"The markets had to rise to the top on their own, but the ability to package them together once they checked those boxes is a great asset."
Seattle's team will play out of the 17,151-seat Climate Pledge Arena, which is also the home of the NHL's Kraken, and practise at the Kraken Community Iceplex.
The addition of Seattle and Vancouver makes for an eight-team league in 2025-26.
The original six clubs are in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Boston, New York and St. Paul, Minn.
The PWHL wraps its second regular season Saturday before the playoffs.
The league is owned by Los Angeles Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter and his wife Kimbra.
Seattle’s bid was led by Oak View Group, the developers and operators of Climate Pledge, alongside the Kraken.
"Much like we have the PNE team in Vancouver, the Kraken are going to be day-to-day partners with us here in this market, and I think that's an exciting thing," Hefford said.
Seattle is already home to women's pro sports with the WNBA's Storm, which also plays out of Climate Pledge, and the NWSL's Reign.
The PWHL hosted a neutral-site game at Climate Pledge on Jan. 5 between the Montreal Victoire and Boston Fleet as part of its nine-game Takeover Tour. Attendance was 12,608.
Canada and the United States played a women's Rivalry Series game there in front of 14,551 on Nov. 20, 2022.
The league cited proximity to Vancouver, elite facilities, the youth hockey community, a strong women's sports fan base, the Kraken's partnership, the economic and corporate landscape and the Takeover Tour's success in drawing the league to Seattle.
"On behalf of the Seattle Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena, I am proud to welcome the Professional Women’s Hockey League to Seattle," Kraken co-owner Samantha Holloway said in a statement.
"Seattle is an incredible sports city, and we’ve seen firsthand the passion for the women’s game at both the U.S. v Canada Rivalry game and the PWHL Takeover Tour.
"We’re also proud to grow the game of hockey at Kraken Community Iceplex and together we’ll continue to inspire the next generation of hockey players and fans alike.”
The addition of Seattle seemed imminent after Vancouver, although the PWHL's launch into the West Coast, with the original six teams clustered in the central to eastern corridor of North America, was a bold move for a new league.
The PWHL's travel costs will increase significantly in its third season.
"We don't ever share financials, but I think the message here is that we have an ownership group that is really supportive, that is really excited about the growth," Hefford said. "This is Phase 1 of a longer-term growth strategy for this league.
"Having different time zones for our games is really important as we start to think about media rights and that sort of thing."
The collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players states that travel longer than six hours or 400 miles (643 kilometres) will be on commercial airlines in economy or coach class.
"Teams shall make reasonable efforts to fly without connecting flights, if available, and shall make reasonable efforts to ensure that all player seats on such flights are aisle or window seats, if available," says the CBA.
What will be PWHL Seattle until a name and logo emerge will have a colour scheme of emerald green and cream.
The PWHL says details on an expansion draft and integration of Vancouver and Seattle into the 2025 draft in Ottawa on June 24 will be released in the coming weeks.
The general managers about to be hired will nevertheless have a short runway for the drafts and for next season.
"We're in the midst of that search right now," Hefford said. "There certainly is an urgency, but not at the expense of the diligence that needs to go into this."
The league stated in early April that attendance this season averaged 7,354 through 79 games for a total of 580,962.
In its shorter inaugural season of 72 games, the league averaged 5,500 fans.
The Victoire, Toronto Sceptres and New York Sirens moved to home arenas with larger capacities in their second seasons.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2025.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
