PWHL Takeover Tour hits Chicago, city gets chance to show fan support

The Professional Women’s Hockey League is growing, and the Chicago area is getting a chance to show why it should be part of future expansion.

On Sunday afternoon at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, the PWHL is hosting a Takeover Tour game between the Minnesota Frost and Ottawa Charge. The event is the first of two Takeover Tour games in the area this season, with the second coming March 25 also in Rosemont.

Takeover Tour games are neutral-site regular-season matches, giving fans in markets without franchises in the eight-team league an opportunity to witness the product in-person and mingle with players at local activations. The tour games – of which 16 are scheduled this season across 11 locations – can also be seen as moments for cities to state their case to join the league.

Frost captain, Palos Heights native and 2018 Olympic gold medalist Kendall Coyne Schofield doesn’t need much convincing that Chicago should have a team. She encouraged area fans to help prove her point.

“I hope, whether people are in Chicago, the Chicagoland area or nearby, they fill [Allstate Arena] and show Chicago can be a viable market,” Coyne Schofield said. “[The players] don’t make those decisions, we just put the best product on the ice that we can, but hopefully the success of these games [in Rosemont] may be an indication that Chicago can be a great market. We want it to be a great market.”

When contacted by the Sun-Times via email, a league spokesperson said the PWHL does not typically share ticketing figures. The spokesperson added there has been a “strong response” in Chicago for the Takeover Tour.

Backed by Mark Walter, better known to sports fans for turning the Dodgers into back-to-back World Series champions and recently buying the Lakers, the PWHL began play on Jan. 1, 2024, with teams in Boston, Minnesota (St. Paul), Montreal, New York, Ottawa and Toronto. The league expanded to eight before this season, adding Seattle and Vancouver, and could bring on two or four teams prior to next fall.

Though Chicago would seem to be an easy fit with both Allstate Arena and the United Center as potential home arenas, a thriving hockey scene headlined by the Blackhawks and Wolves and a history of supporting the Sky and Stars, other cities can make compelling claims. The other four US markets getting Takeover Tour games (Dallas, Denver, Detroit and Washington, D.C.) all have teams in each of the traditional major sports leagues, and the Canadian cities (Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Hamilton, Québec City and Winnipeg) either have NHL teams with rabid followings or are hockey hotbeds.

Like Coyne Schofield, Ottawa’s Taylor House sees Chicago as a worthy PWHL area.

“It’s huge we get two chances to really showcase what Chicago has to offer for the league,” said House, who’s from Joliet. “The excitement from the fans will really show that it’s a good place to go. Everyone will be really excited to see this product on the ice and I think we’ll put on a good show for [the fans] and hopefully get everybody excited to see that it’s a viable market.”

Chicago boosterism aside, Coyne Schofield is excited to play a game so close to home in a burgeoning women’s hockey league, one that appears to be stable after other circuits’ attempts fizzled out. She knew this was possible with the right resources, support, leadership and investment and isn’t surprised women’s hockey is at this point, but knows it took a long time for the sport to reach this moment.

“It’s about time, is what comes to my mind first,” Coyne Schofield said. “Just in three short years, what everyone is seeing, the vision, the full buildings, the product. This is something I’ve believed in all along.”

Chicago’s first chance to show whether it can contribute to that growth comes Sunday.