New city, same game

The GIST: The PWHL is getting bigger and better…literally. After adding an expansion franchise in Detroit last week, the league announced new teams in Hamilton, ON, and Las Vegas, NV, yesterday. If those cities weren’t on your bingo card, you wouldn’t be alone — but each market brings its own value to the league. Feeling pucky.

Hamilton: A newcomer to the PWHL Takeover Tour, the Ontario city welcomed 16K when the PWHL came to town — the fourth-highest attendance in tour history at the time. Since then, Hamilton’s been considered a potential expansion market, even though there’s already a team in nearby Toronto and Hamilton only has about 650K residents.

• The league’s data showed 70% of the fans at January’s game were at their first PWHL game. A Hamilton team likely won’t take fans away from the Toronto market, and now, there’s another fun local rivalry — something that’s benefitted expansions in Seattle and Vancouver. But what really helped them win the bid? New digs.

Las Vegas: Interestingly, Las Vegas was not a stop on any of the league’s three Takeover Tours, but the PWHL is betting on the market because of its strong community engagement. Since 2017 — when the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights first came to town — hockey participation among girls and women in Nevada has surged 600% (though it was still only about 500 players in 2024–25).

• Vegas is becoming an attractive sports market period, boasting WNBA and NFL teams before landing an F1 contract and NBA franchise consideration. With four major league teams arriving in the last decade, it’s considered the fastest-growing pro sports market.

Zooming out: The Takeover Tour is clearly an effective tool to gauge market strength, but choosing Las Vegas proves it’s not the only one. And though the NWSL and WNBA prefer experienced owners when expanding, the PWHL has a single-entity ownership structure, so markets are more important than ownership. Everyone clearly wants the same thing: A good place to play and a city that shows out, no matter the size.

The GIST: Earlier this week, Nielsen shared WNBA viewership insights from the 2025 season and the 2026 WNBA Draft. The numbers show impressive overall success, as well as high growth in specific demographics and regional markets. That, coupled with brand-new viewership data from ESPN, illustrates that the league is stronger than ever in year 30. Let’s get into the paint.

📈 WNBA viewers watched 220M hours last season, up 16% YoY. Nielsen estimates 46.9M U.S. fans tuned in, up 31% in two years. And they showed up often: There were 1.3M average viewers for ESPN regular-season games (up 6% YoY) and 1.2M average viewers for postseason games (up 5% YoY).

📺 The 2026 WNBA Draft drew 38% more Black viewers than the 2025 event. This year’s draft saw viewership growth among other key demos, including 19% more Hispanic viewers and a 21% increase among women over 18. Zillennials are also getting into the game: There was 15% YoY growth among viewers aged 18 to 34.

🔥 The WNBA is seeing growth in certain markets fueled by expansion and other factors. With the Portland Fire’s inaugural season around the corner, Portland saw a 40% YoY viewership increase for the WNBA Draft this year. There was also 19% YoY growth in LA thanks to UCLA’s recent NCAA women’s hoops championship.

⭐ And the numbers keep climbing. ESPN’s Saturday WNBA doubleheader averaged 1.9M viewers in the network’s second most-watched opening weekend. The Dallas Wings vs. Indiana Fever averaged 2.5M viewers in the second most-watched regular-season game in ESPN history. Star power is everything.

⭐ The next generation of sports fans: Fans are engaging not just with the game, but with the content around the game. Nanette Nunu, director of marketing partnerships - sports, lifestyle & entertainment at Sephora, emphasized the moments surrounding a gameday experience and how to best speak to fans that might not be in attendance, but are paying attention.

📈 Emerging leagues in the new era of women’s sports: “No” isn’t the knee-jerk response anymore, it’s “how can we make this work?” Vanessa Taveras, chief partnerships officer at AUSL, spoke about the flexibility emerging leagues have when it comes to partnerships. Sky’s the limit.

🤝 Reimagining mentorship and leadership: Find your girl gang, aka a network of trusted advisors and peers. E.J. Lawrence, VP of sales & partnerships at APMC/Victory+, spoke about curating your professional circle. Think of it as your group chat that pops off when something happens in the sports industry.