Ahead of the Boston Fleet and Toronto Scepters dropping the puck Saturday afternoon on a new PWHL season, the top women’s professional hockey league will have a new partner.
In a press release on Friday, FanDuel Sportsbook and the PWHL announced a new partnership to make FanDuel the Official Sportsbook Partner and exclusive In-app Streaming Partner of the PWHL in the United States.
Fans will be able to stream up to 90 regular season PWHL games, as well as playoff games. However, it’s unclear if these streaming rights will cover both Canada and the United States — the league recently agreed to a television rights deal north of the border most notably with TSN and Amazon — while in-app offerings will include prop bets, novelty markets, same-game parlays, and more.
"FanDuel is proud to partner with the PWHL and support the league's incredible athletes," said Dale Hooper, General Manager of FanDuel Canada. "This partnership is about creating a new era of fan engagement—one that brings hockey closer to fans while helping grow the visibility of women's professional sports."
FanDuel is no stranger to these types of partnerships across professional leagues. Earlier this month, FanDuel was named the exclusive pregame sportsbook partner for Netflix’s Christmas Day games, set to be the first-ever NFL games broadcasted on the streamer.
PWHL gears up for encore performance
After the PWHL shattered expectations during its first year of operation, including record-setting attendance figures, the top women’s league is set to begin its second season with high expectations and several exciting changes.
Most notably, all six PWHL teams are set to begin the year with all-new branding and logos, announced earlier this offseason after the league played last year with placeholder names and logos. Alongside the Fleet and Scepters, other new team names include the Ottawa Charge, Montreal Victoire, Minnesota Frost, and New York Sirens, with the new jerseys this season provided by Bauer after a partnership between the pair was announced earlier this year.
Beyond the new logos and a longer season, up six games from 24 to 30 this season, PWHL games will also be hosted at various new venues this season, with larger crowds giving way to larger arenas. Three teams, the Sceptres, Sirens, and Victoire, will all play their home games at new, larger arenas this year.
New rules will also highlight the league’s second season of play, with the most compelling rule the No Escape Rule aimed at increasing scoring by preventing changes after penalties similar to the No-player-change rules on icing across most major professional hockey leagues, including the NHL.
