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'Major press conference' called for historic Vancouver sports announcement

Rob Williams
Rob Williams
|
Apr 17 2025, 7:56 pm
'Major press conference' called for historic Vancouver sports announcement
Rob Williams/Offside

What could it be?

Members of the media have been invited to a “major press conference” on Wednesday related to a “historic announcement in sport for Vancouver and British Columbia.”

Representatives from the Province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver, and “key stakeholders” will be in attendance.

Someone with knowledge of the news told Daily Hive: “I promise it is big.”

Cue the speculation.

Does it involve the Vancouver Whitecaps? They’re looking for a new owner and have been speaking to the City of Vancouver about building a new soccer-specific stadium at the PNE. Stadiums are expensive and complicated to build, so it would seem awfully quick to have an announcement regarding that.

Surely this isn’t an announcement regarding a new practice facility for the Vancouver Canucks.

The answer appears to be that this is regarding the Pro Women’s Hockey League. Vancouver was rumoured to be in the running for a PWHL expansion team last month. According to Patrick Johnston of Postmedia, Vancouver will indeed be landing a team, likely playing out of the Pacific Coliseum.

The Coliseum has been without a regular sports tenant since the Vancouver Giants packed up and left for the Langley Events Centre in 2016.

Vancouver showed great enthusiasm for the PWHL when it held a game between the Toronto Sceptres and Montreal Victoire at Rogers Arena back in January. That game drew 19,038 fans, which made it the highest attended game on the PWHL’s Takeover Tour, that also had stops in Seattle, Edmonton, Denver, Quebec City, Buffalo, Raleigh, Detroit, and St. Louis.

The PWHL, which is in its second season of operation, currently has teams located in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Boston, and Minnesota.

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