Ted Leonsis is eager to host more women\u2019s hockey games at Capital One Arena in the coming years. He\u2019s also interested in bringing a team to Washington, DC, permanently, but he has some conditions before attempting to do so.<\/p>\n
Leonsis shared his thoughts on the future of women\u2019s hockey in DC while speaking to WTOP\u2019s Ben Raby<\/a>, the former host of Capitals Radio.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should be the women\u2019s professional sports capital of the world,\u201d Leonsis said<\/a>. \u201cWe want to play that part and be in that role as a leader and innovator.\u201d<\/p>\n The news comes on the heels of the PWHL\u2019s apparent addition of up to four new franchises this summer. The league announced that it was expanding Detroit on Wednesday<\/a> while Ice Warriors magazine reported<\/a> two days later that the PWHL is in the process of finalizing Hamilton and San Jose as the next two expansion cities. The magazine added that Las Vegas is a frontrunner to be the fourth team.<\/p>\n The DC area seems eager to host a franchise \u2014 if the PWHL Takeover Tour game between the Montreal Victoire and the New York Sirens<\/a> this past January is any indication. 17,228 fans attended the game \u2014 which broke the United States record for the most people to attend a professional women\u2019s hockey game<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re incredibly proud to see Capital One Arena serve as the stage for another historic moment with today\u2019s record-setting PWHL game,\u201d Leonsis said then in a statement. \u201c\u2026[T]he momentum we\u2019re seeing today reflects both the excellence of the athletes and the growing demand from fans to experience women\u2019s sports at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n In the waning minutes of regulation, the crowd even made its feelings known about the need for a more permanent solution, chanting \u201cWe want a team!\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe have a couple more years of renovations, so it\u2019s very difficult right now to speak with certainty about expansion and what they\u2019re doing along our timetable,\u201d Leonsis told Raby<\/a>.<\/p>\n Leonsis added that he spoke to PWHL executive Stan Kasten shortly after the event about getting into \u201ca rhythm\u201d about DC hosting games, possibly doing two next year and three more the season after that. But the league would need to change its ownership structure before enlisting Leonsis to bring a team to the District. Currently, all the teams are owned and operated by the Mark Walter Group, and there\u2019s no timetable for the league to move away from that structure, at least in the short term.<\/p>\n A Monumental spokesperson added in Raby\u2019s story that they are open to bringing a team to DC \u201cif there were flexibility in the ownership structure.\u201d<\/p>\n The DC area has long been considered as a potential landing spot for a women\u2019s hockey team. The Athletic reported in October 2024<\/a> that the PWHL evaluated the District; Pittsburgh; London, Ontario; and several other locations as potential host cities for inaugural clubs.<\/p>\n Prior to January\u2019s game, the Capitals hosted multiple PWHPA (Professional Women\u2019s Hockey Players Association) events, which were a hit with local fans. In 2022, MedStar Capitals Iceplex, the team\u2019s practice facility, housed a stop on the PWHPA\u2019s Dream Gap tour<\/a>. A year later, it welcomed the PWHPA Showcase<\/a>, bringing big names like Amanda Kessel, Hilary Knight, Sarah Nurse, and Marie-Philip Poulin to the area.<\/p>\n Leonsis, whose Monumental Sports & Entertainment is already the owner of the WNBA\u2019s Washington Mystics, has long been a vocal supporter of women\u2019s sports at large<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019d like to do is make Washington, DC the capital of women\u2019s professional sports,\u201d Leonsis told CNBC\u2019s Squawk Box in April 2024<\/a>. \u201cI could see one day us replicating what we\u2019ve done at Monumental and we could have a women\u2019s hockey team, we could have women\u2019s baseball teams, we could have women\u2019s volleyball teams. I think the whole platform [of women\u2019s sports] is getting ready to explode.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t