Is Tsongas Center Perfect Fit PWHL Boston’s Second Season?

The PWHL exceeded all expectations for attendance and ticket sales in its inaugural season, but league officials recognize there is still room to grow and plan to do even better in year two.

PWHL Boston played its first season at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusettes, and had the league’s second-lowest attendance.

League advisory board member Stan Kasten said, “The ideal venue” would be to play in NHL arenas, but would that make sense for Boston?

“We love being in Lowell. It was the perfect size for us,” PWHL Boston general manager Danielle Marmer said in a video conference on June 4. “We were averaging 4,500 tickets a game, so obviously, there’s a little bit of room to grow there, and we started to sell out towards the end. We may already be starting to outgrow that.”

Marmer continued: “I think it’s really important that we’re in a place that makes it give us the home team advantage and that we feel that crowd. While I think we can get a big crowd at TD Garden, can we do it at a consistent level? I think we’re much closer than we maybe thought we were when we headed into this season.”

Even if TD Garden isn’t the right venue for PWHL Boston, does that mean moving out of Lowell makes sense for the franchise?

“What fans do we lose by moving to Boston, and what fans have struggled to come to our games in Lowell, and is it a slam dunk either way?” Marmer asked. “I don’t know if we’ll ever know the answer to that. I think being able to pull from the Merrimack Valley and from the North Shore and New Hampshire. (They) were a really big part of our fan base and we’re really appreciative for those people who came out and supported us all year and just really grateful for the little community.

“If we move to Boston, I imagine we get some more of the South Shore and closer to the city, and maybe that’s preferable for people who can take the train and can use public transportation to get to us. But, wherever we end up, we’re going to make it home. We’re going to be excited to fill that stadium with as many fans as we can get.”

PWHL Boston may not have a new home for season two, but it will definitely have a new name sometime this summer.

“I’m not part of that process. They’re keeping that pretty tight with the league and people who are better suited to make decisions like that,” Marmer said. “I’m excited to find out I’m hopeful that it’s something that encompasses the city of Boston, whether that’s talking about the waterfront and being on the seacoast or something Revolutionary War. There’s so many directions that you can go. I can only imagine they’ve picked a great name for us, and I’m looking forward to finding out what that is.”