Ranking Ticket Sales For The PWHL's Takeover Tour

All eyes are on the PWHL's Takeover Tour with the belief a strong performance at the box office for the stops will give markets an advantage in PWHL expansion talks.

Here's a look at what's happening at the PWHL's nine Takeover Tour dates as it relates to ticket sales.

Canadian Cities Lead The Way

Without question, Canada is excited to see the PWHL in more cities. The games in Vancouver and Edmonton sold out rapidly, and there's only a few hundred upper bowl seats remaining in Quebec City. What does this mean? It means more than 19,000 fans will be in Vancouver, more than 18,000 in Edmonton, and more than 17,000 in Quebec City to see the PWHL. At the moment, those totals should be enough to tip expansion in a Canadian direction considering those three totals could surpass the total attendance for the American stops on the tour.

Seattle and Denver Leading The Way In The USA

Could we be seeing a gateway to a Pacific Northwest expansion featuring Vancouver and Seattle? Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle has just over 100 seats remaining in their lower bowl, and opened one side of their upper bowl which is also selling. Seattle will still need to do some work to match the 14,551 record they set bringing in the USA national team for a Rivalry Series game in 2022. If they could duplicate this mark, the city would break Detroit's American record for attendance at a professional women's hockey game. Denver looks ready to draw a respectable crowd as well. They also have just over 100 tickets remaining in their lower bowl, and are the only other venue forced to open a small section of upper bowl tickets to date. Could these cities have the PWHL looking west?

Detroit and St. Louis Are Coming Along

Detroit currently holds the American attendance record for a professional women's hockey game drawing 13,736 last season for their Takeover Weekend game. It doesn't look like they'll be able to replicate that mark unless sales speed up in the Motor City. That said, they are drawing better than many American markets and as one of the later games, not taking place until March 16, there's plenty of time. Their lower bowl will look full even if it isn't, but without the upper bowl opening, they won't be able to replicate last year's achievement. Not far behind Detroit is St. Louis, and similarly, as a March 29 game, they have plenty of time. St. Louis still has a long way to go to fill their lower bowl, but it will be a respectable crowd.

Is the interest really there?

Considering the number of markets who reportedly connected with the PWHL about neutral site games and possible expansion, there must have been better candidates than the final two Takeover Tour locations if ticket sales are any indication. Buffalo and Raleigh have struggled to sell with huge swaths of tickets available and entire rows still sitting free in several sections around their lower bowls. They still might top some of the lower tier regular season attendances in the PWHL this year, but unless there's a massive spike in ticket sales, we can rule out Buffalo and Raleigh from expansion talks. Still, the neutral site games are a crucial component in growing the PWHL's fan base outside of existing markets, and that includes bringing in the passionate fan bases, no matter how large or small, in cities like Raleigh and Buffalo.