Opinion: The PWHL Has Another Market Mess On Their Hands In Lowell

It's not the team, it's not the product, it's not even the venue...it's simply the location.

Last year the PWHL pulled the plug on Bridgeport, Connecticut as the home location for the New York Sirens. Total Mortgage Arena itself was a great venue, but the location, hours outside of New York City, was a nightmare. After a mid-March game that drew the lowest attendance in league history, only 728 fans, the league moved their final games scheduled for Bridgeport away from the city.

After recording the three lowest attendances in the league's first ten games this season, it feels like Lowell, Massachusetts as the home for the Boston Fleet is heading down the same path as Bridgeport.

Coming into season one, no one expected Lowell to thrive; and it didn’t. The city did provide respectable crowds in a quality venue during season one, but it's hard to argue against the idea that placing this team in Boston proper would ignite a passionate fan base that already exists, and quickly become a typical Boston crowd that opponents don't enjoy visiting.

While Montreal, Toronto, and New York all made moves heading into year two to more appropriate locations, Boston stayed in Lowell.

Early in season two, it looks like it could be a significant mistake.

Why?

The biggest reason is the difficulties travelling from Boston to Lowell. For many fans on weeknights, the 30 mile trek is taking upwards of 1.5 hours. Traffic between the main population center, and the Fleet's arena is a significant barrier. Fans who work until 5pm in Boston have been reporting it's not possible to make it to Lowell in time for puck drop.

It's why on Tuesday night, many members of the already sparse, 2,854 person announced crowd, could be seen filtering in near the end of the first period. Sadly, it was actually an above average attendance for Lowell itself. Lowell has always struggled to draw crowds spanning back to the AHL's Lowell Lock Monsters and Lowell Devils. In Lowell's final season with an AHL franchise in 2009-10, the team finished last in AHL attendance averaging only 2,498 fans. That was actually an up year for Lowell. The year prior it was 2,293, and the year before that it was 2,102 fans. Lowell finished dead last in AHL attendance for four straight seasons before the league finally pulled the plug on the market.

Some of it, however, isn't the market's fault. The league's scheduling this season looks like a nightmare situation for multiple teams including the Boston Fleet. After two games at the Tsongas Center, the league's nine day break, less than 10 days into the season was a scheduling gaffe that removed the momentum the league had built leading up to opening day. But it gets worse for Boston...

Boston's Only Home Game In 44 Days

That's correct, Tuesday's poorly attended game, will be Boston's only home game at Tsongas in a 44-day span. They won't return home to Tsongas until day 45 on January 22, 2025. After that, Boston only plays one more home game over the following 24 days.

The league itself has been plagued by disorganization resulting in a disjointed schedule and narrow windows to promote, as well as for fans to plan for games. Announcements for the PWHL schedule, broadcasting, and ticket sales came months later than the norms of other professional leagues. For example, the NHL, which creates a much more complex 1,312-game schedule, released their 2024-25 slate on July 2, more than three months before their October 8 puck drop. It was also a schedule that this year included a nine day break for the NHL's 4 Nations Face-Off. Conversely the PWHL released their 90-game schedule 45 days before puck drop with many games without times or locations attached. Knowing traffic issues, it's also surprising the league didn't shift games 30 minutes later, or focus on more weekend games in Lowell.

Even to see games without being in attendance has been an issue for fans this year. While the schedule was late, broadcasting was a nightmare. The PWHL only announced American broadcasting partners the night before opening day, and made on-the-fly changes to streaming during the first week from YouTube to Twitch and then following the international break back to YouTube without a clear announcement or communication of any type to fans. For a league that promised to have the kinks worked out ahead of season two, these fumbles did not go unnoticed by fans.

To see an empty building in the first game back from the premature international break proved critics and the worries many felt about the early break right.

Despite the roadblocks the PWHL has placed in their own way, Lowell is beginning to look like a location that can no longer be viewed as a permanent, or even short term home if a Boston-area team is to succeed. Boston is a perfect location for a thriving professional women's hockey team, and the Fleet have built one of the league's strongest rosters and identities. While the solution could be Boston University's 6,150 seat Agganis Arena, or Boston College's 7,884 seat Conte Forum, the real answer sits in the downtown home of the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics, TD Garden.

After all, TD Garden was vacant on Tuesday night, meaning instead of playing in front of 2,854 fans in Lowell, the Boston Fleet could have been playing in the heart of the city, building excitement for the team and league. The event schedule for TD Garden also shows open nights on December 18, December 22, December 24, and December 30. Moving into January TD Garden is vacant from January 1-4 as well as January 6, 7, and 9, with 16 total dates free in January alone. It hardly seems like availability is the issue.

If availability is not the issue, it begs the question, why would the PWHL be playing in Lowell on a Tuesday evening, instead of at TD Garden in Boston?

The Boston Fleet have an incredible on-ice product, and they've got some of the biggest stars in the league. Players like Hilary Knight, Alina Muller, Megan Keller, Hannah Bilka, Susanna Tapani, Aerin Frankel and Daniela Pejsova, along with the rest of the Fleet deserve a spotlight, not a shadow. The issue is not the game or the team, or even the venue itself, it's the location.

Perhaps it's time for the Fleet to look for a harbor that is not a two hour drive from the ocean.