The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), North America’s top-flight women’s ice hockey competition, has secured its first-ever season-long US broadcast deal with Scripps Sports.
Scripps previously aired the 2026 PWHL Takeover Tour and has now returned to bring a full season of games to a nationwide audience.
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Through the agreement, Scripps will produce and broadcast one top-pick game per week each Saturday throughout the regular season, exclusively aired on its ION national network, which is disseminated over-the-air, via cable, and carried on streaming services.
Additionally, the Scripps Sports Network FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) channel, which is hosted on a range of internet TV services, will air two PWHL games on a national basis each week.
Furthermore, ION also becomes the exclusive national broadcast home of the PWHL’s season-ending Walter Cup Finals, which it also covered in the 2025-26 season.
Logistically, the 2026-27 PWHL campaign will be the league’s biggest, having expanded to 12 teams through the addition of four new franchises.
In terms of local coverage, Scripps’ local networks in Detroit, Michigan (WMYD-TV, The Spot – Detroit 20) and Las Vegas, Nevada (KMCC-TV, The Spot – Vegas 34), will serve as the local broadcast networks for the PWHL expansion franchises in those respective cities, further boosting its local sports coverage in addition to the national deal.
Speaking on the deal, PWHL vice president of business operations Amy Scheer commented: “A season-long national television presence in the U.S. is something we’ve been working toward and represents a significant step in our continued growth as a league.
“Scripps continues to be a committed partner in shining a spotlight on women’s sports, and for the first time, our American fans will have the opportunity to follow the league on national television throughout an entire season, making the PWHL more accessible than ever before.”
PWHL does have national broadcast coverage in Canada across a range of sources, but this is a first in the US market, where seven of its 12 franchises are based.
For Scripps, the addition of a slate of PWHL games further expands its burgeoning women’s sports portfolio, which includes NWSL soccer action, WNBA basketball, and PWHL ice hockey, the top women’s tiers of those three sports in the US (and Canada for the latter two).
Recently, Scripps also secured the rights in the USS for the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup 2027, which it will air in both English and Spanish.
