Right on the heels of securing a women’s soccer team, Denver says, “Give us another.”
The Professional Women’s Hockey League, or PWHL, brought its Takeover Tour to Ball Arena on Jan. 12 — and Denver showed up.
With 14,018 people in the stands to watch the Montréal Victoire and Minnesota Frost, it was the league’s highest attendance at a U.S. game so far. (Ball Arena can seat up to 18,007 attendees for hockey games, according to its website.)
However, the league has seen stronger attendance on several occasions in Canada, including a recent matchup that drew 19,000 fans in Vancouver.
Tickets for the Denver game ranged from $35 to $86. Minnesota won 4-2 to regain the top spot in the league.
The PWHL is just over a year old and has teams in six cities: Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto. The Takeover Tour is visiting nine cities to gauge interest in future expansions.
The energy was very high (and very gay) in Ball Arena
One of those 14,018 people was my neighbor Paige Cozort, who went with a group of nine friends (all queer women, of course). I had to get her review.
“The vibe?” Cozort said. “Exceptional. Everyone was absolutely stoked to be there, clearly.”
She spotted many players from Denver’s women rugby teams, plus a group from Lady Justice Brewing. Folks held up signs asking, “After party at 99ers?” (That’s the recently opened women’s sports bar on Colfax.) When the arena DJ played Chappell Roan’s “HOT TO GO!”, Cozort said, “the entire arena [was] doing the dance.”
“Denver loves women’s sports, so much,” she said. “So give us a team!”
What are Denver's odds?
Another game in Seattle was similarly successful. But expansion to the West could be difficult for a league that is currently concentrated in the Northeast and eastern Canada, The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian reported.
Traveling across North America would add significant expense — which could be alleviated somewhat by opening two franchises out here, Salvian wrote.
