PWHL announces expansion to Las Vegas, will start in 2026-27
Sin City is going to get a different taste of hockey.
On Wednesday, the Professional Women’s Hockey League announced it is expanding to Las Vegas, with the team set to begin play in the 2026-27 season.
Las Vegas is the 10th franchise in league history and the second expansion team announced in the past week. Last Wednesday, the league revealed that Detroit will be getting a team next season. A new team in Hamilton, Ont. was also announced on Wednesday.
The new team will be playing out of T-Mobile Arena, home of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, while it will be training at America First Center in nearby Henderson. The green and golden yellow colors are meant to represent the “beauty of the desert and mountains that encircle Las Vegas, while gold is a nod to the glamour of what makes Vegas,” according to a release.
While Detroit was considered a frontrunner for expansion due to the league’s presence in the market, Las Vegas wasn’t on many people’s radar until recent weeks. The town certainly has a love for hockey, as seen with the support for the Golden Knights, but women’s hockey has been sparse in the region. The United States and Canada played a Rivalry Series game in December 2022 in Henderson, at the home of the Golden Knights’ American Hockey League affiliate.
That said, there’s been vast support for women’s sports in Sin City, thanks to the success of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces.
Detroit, Las Vegas and Hamilton aren’t the only teams joining the PWHL in 2026-27. There’s an expectation that one more franchise is supposedly going to be introduced in the near future.
The franchise doesn’t have long before it can do business. The team will be able to start signing players in the coming weeks in a revamped expansion roster-building format, with the 2026 PWHL Draft taking place in Detroit on June 17.