Get ready for women's pro hockey in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — When the NHL announced in 2016 it was expanding to Las Vegas, one of the mandates for the new organization, at the time unnamed, was to grow the sport in Southern Nevada, both at the youth and adult level.

It also meant growing the game for both genders.

With participation in girls hockey in Nevada having grown 600 percent over the nine years the Golden Knights have been operational from less than 100 to more than 600 and with the added sheets of ice throughout the valley, it only made sense that the Professional Women's Hockey League would eventually put down roots here.

Wednesday is that day.

The PWHL will announce that it will expand to Las Vegas for the 2026-27 season. Las Vegas will join Detroit, which was announced last week as the league’s ninth franchise. This past season, Seattle and Vancouver competed as first-year teams, joining Toronto, Montreal, Minnesota, New York, Boston and Ottawa, the PWHL’s “Original Six.”

What’s interesting about the move is the PWHL did not test-drive the Las Vegas market with one of its popular and successful “Takeovers” where the league goes into a town that doesn’t have a team and plays a one-night stand. And it has resulted in huge crowds to watch women’s hockey.

The Knights’ sports subsidiary — Black Knight Sports & Entertainment — will own the team so expect the PWHL team to have some sort of connection to the Golden Knights theme. Maybe they’ll be called the “Golden Damsels” to reflect the medieval theme that permeates through the hockey properties Bill Foley oversees.

But will it work?

Our sports market continues to grow. We already have the NHL, the NFL and the WNBA operational. Major League Baseball is coming in 2028. It looks like the NBA will be doing likewise. And there’s been wide conjecture that Las Vegas will be the new home to Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps though word out of British Columbia is that a plan is being floated to keep the Whitecaps in Vancouver.

We also have minor league baseball with the Triple-A Aviators in Summerlin and the AHL Silver Knights in Henderson and the Indoor Football Knight Hawks along with the Desert Dogs of the National Lacrosse League who also play out of Lee’s Family Forum plus the Lights FC, a USL soccer team that plays downtown at Cashman Field.

So is there room for a women’s pro hockey team? Or are we already stretched too thin when it comes to our sports discretionary dollar?

I have no doubt it will work here provided a couple of things transpire. One, the team has to be successful and compete for championships. Women’s basketball didn’t become popular here until the Aces started winning WNBA titles. It is now a hot ticket and the community has embraced the team despite the fact it relocated from San Antonio and originated in Salt Lake City.

Two, it must be affordable for families to attend. You can’t charge $70, $80, $90 to attend a PWHL game. The league is somewhat affordable in its current markets, with the get-in price around $27 on the average and the top seats going for anywhere for $100 to $125 depending on the market.

It’s important for families to take their kids, particularly their daughters, to grow the PWHL’s fan base. You take your 9-year-old daughter to a PWHL game, the next thing you know, she’s on the ice scoring a goal, like in the credit card commercial.

If you price families out of attending, it’s not going to make it here. There’s too many options available. One reason the Aces draw so well is the affordability they make in pricing their tickets. You can get in for as little as $13.

Finding a place for the PWHL to play is no problem. Lee’s Family Forum works though it could be too small if demand exceeds its capacity of 5,567. For the bigger games, or, potentially all games, T-Mobile Arena, which seats 17,500, can be used. The Aces employ a similar use plan, with 12,000-seat Michelob Ultra Arena as their primary home and T-Mobile used for select games that require bigger capacity.

The Knights also have their television deal with Scripps Sports, giving the PWHL team an outlet to show their games on local television. So the needed exposure will be there.

But the best reason for why the PWHL will work here? Like the Golden Knights, this team will be “Vegas Born.” They’ll be ours from the outset. The team will grow together with the hockey and sports community. The women who form the inaugural season roster will find a community that is welcoming and supportive of them and the giveback by the players will be amazing. It will be the ideal symbiotic relationship between a sports team and the city it plays in.

You’ll also be impressed with the skill of these women. They can play.

John Penhollow, the Golden Knights’ president of business operations, told me back in December that bringing the PWHL to Las Vegas was one of his goals in looking to grow the sport here. Quietly behind the scenes, he has managed to go from being off the radar to getting a PWHL expansion franchise. You want to thank someone for bringing women’s hockey here? Thank John.

Of course, much work remains to be done between now and when the puck drops on Opening Night. But if the Golden Knights have taught us anything, it is no obstacle is too big, no challenge is too great and the goal is always to win championships.

“Always advance. Never retreat” is Bill Foley’s mantra, a line taken from General George S. Patton, a fellow West Pointer. Expect the same philosophy for women’s pro hockey in Vegas.