Denise Ilitch believes Detroit will get professional women's hockey team 'soon'

FOX 2 - Capitalizing on the tidal wave of interest in women's hockey on the heels of the Olympic gold medal champions, the PWHL is expanding - with Detroit one of the leaders as a landing spots.

Dig deeper:

The Hockey News reports the Professional Women's Hockey League is expected to add two to four teams with the announcement coming possibly as soon as next week.

"Detroit continues to emerge as the leading candidate, with strong belief across the league that the market is in a very strong position to land a franchise," reports Ian Kennedy at The Hockey News.

Detroit Red Wings co-owner Denise Ilitch said on her WJR 760 radio show on March 31st that she expects the city to land one of the expansion teams.

"As you know, women's hockey is exploding and we have a professional women's hockey league which is unbelievable," she said. "And I believe we'll be getting a team in Detroit soon which really excites me."

On March 28th, Detroit welcomed 15,938 fans to the PWHL Takeover Tour game at Little Caesars Arena. It was the most attended PWHL game that has been held in Detroit, which has hosted four games since the 2023 season.

Ilitch spoke about the attendance record, which has since been surpassed twice.

"We just got beat in attendance - we don't even have a Detroit team and they played at LCA and we had the highest attendance until I think we got beat by Seattle?" she said.

Her show guest, 2018 gold medal-winning women's hockey Olympian Haley Skrupa weighed in.

"DC beat it and then Seattle beat DC," she said.

Skrupa spoke about the soaring interest in the sport and her feelings about the future of women's hockey.

"That is what I am most excited about, the continual growth of not just the players, but the fans. Because women's hockey is just so unique," she said. "Like the players, and the stories. And the game. It has just gotten so much faster. The growth of the game itself has been so cool to see for me, you know, as a former player. 

"The community and the camaraderie that women's hockey has kind of established for this professional league — it is such a strong culture and to just continue to grow it.  It really fosters strong and really good people."

 Detroit was passed over for the first round of expansion, but hopes are high for the next round especially considering the Takeover Tour success at LCA.

Some fans have expressed concerns about where a team will play, noting that Little Caesars Arena already hosts Red Wings games, Pistons games, and concerts in the winter. 

Both of Detroit's 2026 Takeover Tour games were doubleheaders with the Red Wings, but it is unclear if that would be feasible with a permanent team that would play more games at the rink.

Ilitch, who serves on the University of Michigan Board of Regents, said on her show she is working to get the Wolverines a Division I women's hockey team.

The U-M men's hockey team lost in the Frozen Four semifinals in a 4-3 double-overtime heartbreak defeat to Denver. 

For the past 30 years, Michigan has had a women's club team, but Ilitch spoke to Skrupa about her efforts to introduce a full-fledged D1 program. 

To listen to the rest of the Denise Ilitch show CLICK HERE.