May 19, 2026
The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) has confirmed that our city is the home for one of their newest expansion teams, set to hit the ice for the 2026-27 season. We’ve seen what the Golden Knights have done for the community. Time to add another powerhouse to the roster!
Previously, women’s professional hockey was fragmented between different leagues like the CWHL (Canadian Women’s Hockey League) and the PHF (Premier Hockey Federation), but in 2019, many of the world’s best hockey players formed the PWHPA, a non-profit organization with the mission to advocate for a more professional, sustainable future. When the Mark Walter Group, alongside Billie Jean King, purchased the assets of PHF in 2023, the vision for a single, unified league became reality.
In January 2024, the PWHL launched its first season with the “Original Six” franchises and shattered global attendance records (Source) proving that there was a massive, untapped market for women’s hockey. Now, as the league enters its third season, we see the evolution from a grassroots movement with the PWHPA to a premier professional entity with multi-city expansions.
The new Vegas PWHL team will be sharing the spotlight for games at the T-Mobile Arena and holding practices at the America First Center in Henderson, NV. Massimo Bizzaro, T-Mobile Arena’s General Manager, shared his enthusiasm for T-Mobile Arena’s involvement:
“T-Mobile Arena has quickly become the epicenter for championship hockey, and we look forward to offering the team, and hockey fans nationwide, an unmatched home-ice experience.”(Source)
This expansion is a direct result of the explosive growth of not just sports and sports entertainment in Vegas over the last few years but hockey specifically. Since VGK’s historic debut in 2017 and their Stanley Cup victory a few years ago, local participation in youth and adult hockey leagues in Nevada have soared, with some sources noting a 600% increase in participation for girls’ and women’s leagues (Source).
As a preeminent sports broadcasting company, Atomic Television has covered the Las Vegas Aces, Desert Dogs, Thrill, and the San Diego Seals, and we are proud to witness the continued surge of Vegas sports entertainment with this new PWHL team!
With a fresh color palette of green and gold, the Vegas PWHL team pays homage to the beloved colors of our natural landscape and compliments the uniforms of their “co-headliners”, the Golden Knights. But the arrival of PWHL isn’t just about another jersey. It further points to the growth of the game and the advancement of Las Vegas as not just an entertainment epicenter, but a developing nexus for sports themselves.
The foundation of the team will start at the 2026 PWHL Draft in Detroit on June 17th with over 200 eligible players in attendance. We remember how the Golden Knights built their original roster and defied the odds to reach the Stanley Cup Final in their very first season, and we look forward to seeing that same momentum here. With players ranging from collegiate stars to international athletes, the stakes are high for Vegas as they try to build a roster from the ground up and select the inaugural faces who will carry the “Vegas Born” mantle.
Get ready to give a warm Vegas welcome to the first Professional Women’s Hockey League team in the American Southwest!
