Are There Too Many Takeover Tour Games?

You know what they say about too much of a good thing.

Prior to the 2024-2025 season, the PWHL introduced a new concept: the Takeover Tour, a slate of neutral-site regular-season games that are played outside the League’s current complement of cities. In the inaugural season, the league played two games outside of its regular home markets. Last season, nine such games were held. This season, the league expanded its slate to 16 games, including two each in Halifax, Chicago, Detroit and Denver.

Historically and with the upcoming games left this season, that'll mark four PWHL games held in Detroit, Michigan and three each in Denver, Colorado and Edmonton, Alberta. Quebec City, Halifax and Chicago will each have had two games, with a number of other cities each hosting one.

The Good

On one hand, the Takeover Tour concept is phenomenal for introducing new cities and people to professional women's hockey. It's a great way to reach new audiences, who may otherwise not be able to see a PWHL game, and some of whom may not even know the league exists otherwise. Growing the sport of women's hockey is paramount, and on the surface, this is a great way to do it.

Last season, total Takeover Tour attendance was 123,601. Those are overall fantastic numbers, and many of those people may not have been able to see a PWHL game otherwise.

The Takeover Tour also provides the PWHL an opportunity to test potential new markets. Seattle and Vancouver were both on the 2024-25 circuit, and their success helped lead to each city getting its own franchise. Cities that didn't fare as well with attendance may not be next in line to get their own team. It's a way of feeling out the city's appetite for women's hockey and what potential there may be, if the right leadership, support and venue is there.

Following that train of thought, it would seem logical that the PWHL is looking hard at Detroit, Denver and Edmonton as potential expansion franchises.

The Bad

On the other hand, too much of a good thing gets played out very quickly. It's not unlike how I feel about the NHL's Winter Classic: it was a unique, special event in the beginning, but once you start to have too many, it feels less momentous. The "spectacle" of it has faded. This is how it's starting to feel with the Takeover Tour. One game ends, and then you realize there's another. This past Saturday, there were two alone! It's still a cool thing and especially for those communities getting the games, but when you look at the league at large, it's getting a little tiresome.

It's also a tough balance to support the league's existing fanbases, which are still relatively fresh and new, while hoping to create new fanbases in new cities. At some point, fans aren't going to be happy about losing home games to the Takeover Tour sites, even if those games are a success.

Even if it's equal across the league—for instance, this season, each team loses two home games as a result of the neutral site matches—that still probably doesn't feel great to the dedicated fans in each market. That's two fewer games that those passionate fans get to see their team! (And, think even more about the impact on those of the expansion franchises, in their first season of having a team.) Each team has 13 real home games, and two "home" games that are really neutral sites.

The addition of too many Takeover Tour games overall disrupts the schedule and also adds more travel for players and teams. The Vancouver Goldeneyes, for example, play one home game between December 21 and January 21. And it's not even a true home game; it was at Rogers Place in Edmonton. They'll play a true home game at Pacific Coliseum on January 22 and then won't be home again until March 1. Overall, between December 21 and March 1, the Goldeneyes will have played at nine different venues, including four Takeover Tour games.

That's a tough schedule.

What's the Right Answer?

So what's the solution here? A delicate balance. While I understand the need to test new markets, and the need to grow women's hockey support in new places, the PWHL would do well to remember its existing fanbases and markets, too.

There's no blanket correct answer that will make everyone happy, but what about doing a few Takeover Tour games in the preseason? The level of competition may not be exactly the same as the regular season, but it's the best I can find of a happy middle ground. Otherwise, limit the Takeover Tour so that each team is only giving up one home game max during the regular season. You want to grow the sport and the league, sure—but don't take games away from the fans you've already got.

With between 30 and 32 regular season games in each season (per the collective bargaining agreement), the PWHL needs to keep the Takeover Tour a spectacle, not a normality, while balancing the desire to test new markets and the need to grow the game.