Record number of fans pack Detroit PWHL Takeover Tour game as push for expansion to the city continues
The New York Sirens and Montréal Victoire play at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on March 28, 2026. (Amber Eikenberry/FOX 2)
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Nearly 16,000 fans showed up over the weekend to support the Professional Women's Hockey League in Detroit, driving up the total number of fans to attend PWHL games in Hockeytown to more than 53,500.
The PWHL consists of eight teams that play several games in cities that don't have teams. These games, called the Takeover Tour, started in two cities during the 2023-24 season and expanded to 11 cities this season.
'Standing room only': Fans pack pop-ups as Bar IX, Detroit's first women's sports bar, eyes permanent home
Bar IX is currently partnering with Detroit bars and restaurants to host pop-up women's sports watch parties. Eventually, the goal is to open a brick-and-mortar location and become Detroit's first women's sports bar.
Saturday's attendance was the most the league has drawn in Detroit, which has served as a stop every year since the PWHL began doing neutral site games during its inaugural season. Detroit is the only city that has hosted a Takeover Tour game every season, and has welcomed the league more than any other city without a team.
The game was also significant as it was the PWHL's first-ever national linear television broadcast in the United States.
Will Detroit get a team?
Hopes were high in Detroit last year when the league announced it was expanding, but it instead expanded to Vancouver and Seattle.
Despite being passed over in the first round of expansion, fans continue to push for a team in Detroit and show how much the city wants that. Saturday's game featured more than a handful of signs demanding Detroit gets a PWHL team.
When Vancouver's team was announced last year, Amy Scheer, the executive vice president of business operations, said the league had a several-year expansion plan.
"For all of the cities that expressed interest, if you're not chosen for this year, it doesn't mean you won't be chosen," Scheer said last April.
Though the hunger is there in Detroit, 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.
If expansions are happening this year, and they follow the same timeline as last season, fans should expect to have more answers in the next month.
The Source: Information from the PWHL was used in this report.